The End of Days Job
by Hickumu
Summary: Sequel to "Ties that Bind Job" and "You're Welcome Job". Wolfram and Hart is moving in on the team's turf, and they have Lindsey to clear the path. For the sake of her new family, Faith is drawn into a dark new world. The Senior Partners have their eye on Eliot. To get what they want, W&H will do anything. To get their friends back, the Leverage team will do the same.
1. Prologue: Alert

"Hardison! Wake up!"

Somewhere between "wake" and "up", the voice in Alec Hardison's head morphed from his Nana rousing him for school to a very grouchy Parker in the midst of shaking him within an inch of his life.

"Jesus, woman, stop!" he cried, pushing her off and scrambling into a sitting position. "Where's the damn fire?"

Standing by his bed, Parker looked like she still hadn't entirely woken up. "Your computers won't stop beeping." She was swaying slightly on her feet.

"What?" It wasn't the first time he'd been woken up by Parker in his bedroom. Most of the time, however, she woke him up by crawling into bed with him. _Not talking about…computers?_ Hardison desperately tried to sweep the cobwebs from his brain. "Why were you sleeping on the couch?" He slid out of bed and took her by the arm – helping her lie down in the spot he'd just abandoned. "I've told you a million times you can just crawl in here with me."

"You snore," she grumped as she snuggled into his pillow.

He almost crawled back in beside her; his heart was doing pleasantly flippy things as he watched her drift back to sleep. Her news about the computers had taken root in his brain, however, and he knew he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep until he checked out whatever had woken her up.

_You snore._ Hardison had no doubt Parker was telling the truth – he'd been plagued with allergies as a child. Knowing now that it bothered her enough to keep her out of his bed, made him a lot more motivated to find a cure than he'd ever been before.

All happy thoughts of Parker and sleep seemed to drain out of his head as he crossed the threshold of his bedroom and heard the incessant beeping. _Data miners,_ he thought, recognizing the alert immediately. He'd suspected as much – they were set to alert him whenever they'd dug up something that they thought needed his immediate attention.

Problem was, a program's idea of "important" didn't always jibe with reality. "You better not have gotten stuck in the entertainment section of the Journal again," he grumbled, taking his seat and tapping the keys to bring the report he wanted up. "My stalker-like feelings for Freema Agyeman aside, her latest shopping trip is not earth shatteringly important." He scanned the newspaper article his best crawler had dug up out of that very same Boston Journal, and his expression sobered immediately. "Oh not good. So not good."

He glanced at the clock on the bottom corner of his monitor and tried to work out whether this was world shattering enough news to risk waking the others over. The only one he could be absolutely certain wouldn't try to kill him on the spot was Eliot. "Of course even money says Mr. Soldier of Fortune isn't asleep in the first place," he noted.

Hardison got to his feet and stumbled into the kitchen, still mulling over what to do. This was exactly the kind of news he'd set his data mining programs to bring him, but there wasn't a lot of substance to it. The press release that would be appearing in tomorrow's Journal was so neutral as to be suspicious all on its own.

Cracking open a new two liter of orange soda, he took a long swig directly from the bottle. "Substance is out there," he decided. "Just gotta find it."

Course of action charted and suitably fortified for the night's (morning's?) activities, Hardison returned to his desk. There was a reason a law firm like Wolfram & Hart was opening a branch office in Boston, and he'd bet every date he would never have with the lovely Freema that it wasn't going to be good.

* * *

700 Congress Street in South Boston had been bleeding tenants for years. It was no great surprise, therefore, when those businesses who were still managing to deliver at least the previous month's rent every first of the month received an official looking notice telling them they had thirty days to pack up and clear out.

A few determined souls attempted to contact the leasing company, to see if the owner was willing to negotiate them staying on, but ultimately it went nowhere. One by one the graphics shop, the consulting agency, the temp agency and the corporate headquarters of the Missionary Food Bank loaded boxes in their cars and trucks and headed for greener pastures.

The building was quiet and dark for three full days and most of a fourth. At dusk on a Friday afternoon, the trucks started to arrive. A construction dumpster was set, and anything that had been left by the building's previous occupants was disposed of without a single backward glance.

That same night Lindsey McDonald, Attorney at Law, moved into Wolfram & Hart's executive suite at the Seaport Hotel.

Six days passed before the night Alec Hardison would be roused from his bed by rumors that a monster had moved into his town. Six days working round the clock – planning, scheming and supervising – as local companies ran their people ragged trying to meet the most impossible of deadlines.

Lindsey's superiors had questioned his decision to use Boston-based companies to complete the interior renovations of their new office building. The feeling among the company executives was that Wolfram & Hart's own people were more efficient, and with very few exceptions had first-hand knowledge of just how seriously the law firm took its deadlines.

"In order to accomplish our objective," Lindsey had argued, "we need to look like the good guys. In an area like South Boston, that means showing a willingness to inject capital into the local economy from the beginning."

His understanding of just how desperate times were for the construction industry paid off handsomely – even though it was only a week's work, companies had jumped at the chance to put three shifts of people to work for time and a half plus bonus. Four days into the project, Lindsey had approved a whisper campaign about just how many people Wolfram & Hart would be looking to hire once their doors were open for business.

Word had spread like wildfire. Even though they might not be qualified for the kind of work Wolfram & Hart needed done, everyone working on the renovation knew at least a handful of people who would jump at the chance for steady work at competitive rates.

The same night Hardison was sitting down at his computers, and learning about the "economic stimulus" that would be provided by the international legal giant, Lindsey was comfortably ensconced in his office, enjoying a Scotch and updating the Executive Vice President of Operations in Los Angeles on their progress.

"All the local news outlets have confirmed," he said, taking another sip of his drink. "No, sir – national coverage would be counter-productive to the operation. We need to stick to the scenario laid out by Marketing – they believe it's bulletproof, and I support that." Up until it fails, he noted mentally. Then the marketing department would find out exactly how much his support was worth.

His smart phone vibrated for his attention. Lindsey checked the message from his IT department and smiled. "Actually, sir, his trace was detected less than a minute ago." He rolled his eyes at his superior's comment. "Yes, sir. I have personally made it clear to IT what will happen if he escapes the net we currently have him in. I promise you, Alec Hardison will only see what we want him to see, when we want him to see it."

He paused. "My brother has grown…unfortunately idealistic." An image of Eliot and the last time they'd seen each other drifted across his thoughts._ At the eleventh hour, forgiveness. _ "We'll need something more personal than money to convince him."

Lindsey's expression sobered at his superior's next comment. "Sir, you have my opinions on that subject." He flashed on memory of another office – another city – and a dark-haired, severely unbalanced young woman smashing the head of one of his co-workers repeatedly into a nearby desk. "If the Senior Partners are determined to proceed with this operation, I believe we need to take a less direct route." He shook his head reflexively in reaction to the response in his ear. "No, sir – I believe we have more than enough leverage to bring her around. All I'm saying is that it's going to take a lighter touch this time."

He exhaled softly, trying to rein in some of the frustration that had bled into his voice. "Of course. I understand. Same time tomorrow?" Receiving the expected affirmative, Lindsey touched his earpiece and finally terminated the call. Taking out the device, he tossed it onto the nearby coffee table.

"Dammit," he sighed, draining the remainder of his glass in a single swallow. Intellectually he understood upper management being reluctant to trust him completely, but that didn't ease the constant frustration of having every single one of his decisions questioned. _I'm the best person for the job. _ He half-collapsed into one of the chairs in his sitting area. _That's why the Senior Partners brought me back – I'm the only one that can deliver what they need._

And there was a very large part of him that was glad that was the case. Lindsey had worked all his life for power and the trappings that came along with it. He liked expensive haircuts and flawlessly tailored suits. When the Powers That Be had grabbed hold of him long enough to facilitate Nathan Ford's release from prison, his suit was department store off-the-rack and had made his skin literally itch.

He appreciated having the best of everything at his disposal. This was control. This was the way to make sure you ended up nobody's victim. He'd tried it his brother's way – the long-haired, badass look he'd sported his last go-round had been classic Eliot Spencer – and it had led him straight to oblivion. Death was definitely overrated in Lindsey McDonald's opinion.

He smiled, thinking about his brother, and the look on Eliot's face when he realized his twin was back among the living again.

Yeah, he was definitely going to like being back this time.


	2. Best Course of Action

Sophie Devereaux cuddled her mug of hot chai close to her chest and tried not to yawn. Nine o'clock wasn't impossibly early, especially once she learned Hardison had been awake and researching since four. No, the problem was that she'd picked last night to go out with a couple of girlfriends. They hadn't done anything extreme, but an all night diner and all the coffee and ice cream they could put away wasn't conducive to her being at her best. _At least we got Mary sorted out,_ she thought – remembering how the young artist had finally managed to smile when they parted company around two in the morning.

Luckily, none of the others seemed to be in much better shape than she was. Sophie successfully hid a grin when she caught sight of Nate. He was listening to Hardison's briefing, and the wheels were already turning in his brain.

They were just turning a lot more slowly than usual.

"It's too big a coincidence," he said, once Hardison had stopped talking. "New York, I'd believe. Washington DC. The only thing of any potential interest to them in Boston is us." He glanced at Eliot. "Specifically, Eliot."

Sophie knew they were all thinking about the "enhancements" Eliot's twin brother had recently confessed to giving him. Their hitter wasn't immortal by any stretch of the imagination, but the late Lindsey McDonald, Attorney at Law, had arranged for Eliot to be given magical enhancements to his strength and stamina that definitely took him to the outer limits of what could be classified as human.

The subject of their silent speculation was quiet for a long moment. Finally Eliot said, "Any interest they had in me should have died with Lindsey. I did some favors for them over the years – sure – but if I was really that valuable an asset they would have come knocking before this."

"You do have a personal connection though." Sophie felt obligated to point it out, even though she knew probably better than any of them how sore a subject his twin was for Eliot.

"Had, Sophie." Eliot shook his head, scowling. "Had. Lindsey's been dead a long time."

Before she could argue the point, Hardison stepped into the conversation. "We've already seen that zombie clause in action, man," he said. "Standard perpetuity or whatever? Couldn't they have called in his number or something?"

To Sophie's amazement, Eliot seemed to be considering Hardison's point. She exhaled softly, realizing that she'd preemptively braced for him to start arguing with the hacker.

Finally, Eliot shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Perpetuity means forever, but I can't see Wolfram & Hart wanting anything to do with Lindsey after he helped the Powers That Be."

A potentially disturbing possibility occurred to Sophie. "Eliot, what if that wasn't your brother who helped Nate get released?" She didn't want to consider it because it pushed the big picture farther into the realm of gods and supernatural phenomena than she was comfortable with.

"No," Eliot said emphatically. "Lindsey was my twin. I know him better than anyone or anything on the planet, and that was him."

Sophie backed off immediately, recognizing the stubborn set to Eliot's jaw. There would be no changing his mind without some sort of proof.

"Setting aside the question of what's brought them here," Nate said, drawing their attention, "Eliot, what can we expect? More vampires?"

Hardison groaned, and Parker scowled. "No question," Eliot said. "Vampires, demons – things you've probably never heard of that we have no chance of taking on and surviving."

Sophie knew she wasn't the only one disheartened by Eliot's assessment. True to form, however, Parker was the only one who spoke up. "We did all right against those vampires last time."

"You got lucky," Eliot said, arms folded across his chest. "The vamps we faced were young, probably all strung out to one degree or another, and we had a Slayer and a really old vampire backing us up."

"So we call Faith," Hardison said. "Our very own vampire Slayer. Problem solved."

Nate shook his head immediately. "Calling Faith in is about the least neutral act we can make with these people. I don't want to risk some sort of supernatural armageddon without cause."

"You owe her some kind of warning, at least," Sophie said, catching his attention. "This could be as much about her as it is Eliot."

Before Nate could say anything, Eliot shook his head. "If we tell her anything at all, she'll come. No question. Nate's right. Neutral is the smart play until we know more."

Nate was unnaturally quiet; his gaze had dropped to a spot on the table. Sophie realized he was struggling to shove back his feelings about Eliot being so sure what Faith would do. Nate had proven in the past to be very territorial on the subject of his daughter, and now absolutely wasn't the time for him to indulge that. "We're not going to be able to keep it from her forever," he said finally, raising his head and looking at each of them in turn. "Right now, we don't know enough about what they're doing here."

Hardison was clearly unhappy about not getting to hide behind a superhero, but Sophie was relieved to see him rally and look for alternatives. "The press conference," he said. "Should be large enough for us to pull a 'hide in plain sight'."

She liked the idea, and jumped in immediately to support the hacker. "We can weigh what they're saying against what they're not saying."

Nate's gaze ticked to Eliot, who shrugged. "In the open, broad daylight – it's not the greatest plan in the world, but it's probably the safest we're going to find on such short notice."

"What is the greatest plan?" Hardison asked.

Eliot looked down at him. "Getting as far away from this city – and them – as possible."

They showed up at the office building at different times on the day of the press conference, and made sure to space themselves at irregular distances throughout the waiting crowd. Anything so that witnesses couldn't testify later that they were connected to each other. They had the coms, but by now the team knew how to communicate through them without actually being overheard. When necessary, they'd also worked out ways to communicate with them _while _being overheard. Lines of communication were as secure as ever, but for many of the team that was cold comfort as they prepared for their first face-to-face encounter with Wolfram and Hart.

There would be no hiding Eliot, especially once Hardison confirmed that Lindsey would be the principle speaker, so they had agreed not to try. Eliot was making an attempt to blend in, but his primary assignment was to act as camouflage for the rest of the team. Nate was hoping that Eliot's obvious presence might somehow make the rest of them less so.

He was bait. Nate hated admitting it to himself, but it was the truth. Today, he, Hardison, Parker and Sophie were ordinary, concerned citizens attending a press conference that would likely decide the economic fate of this part of Boston.

Economic interest had attendance at standing room only levels. According to Hardison's research, Lindsey had been busy making a lot of promises – the kind of promises a recession-weary population would be eager for him to make good on.

Hardison and Parker took positions along the walls on opposite sides of the room. Sophie sat in the middle, Nate near the back, and Eliot grabbed the most visible seat he could find. His position served the dual purpose of putting him in Lindsey's line of sight, and allowing the rest of the time to watch over him.

_The point is to tempt, not surrender,_ Nate reminded himself. If this really was about Wolfram & Hart taking a chance to grab Eliot, they were giving them what looked like the perfect opportunity.

Even at a distance, Nate could tell that Eliot was uncomfortable with the plan. It wasn't in his nature to depend on other people to this degree. In the end, however, even he had agreed that it was a solid shot at getting Lindsey to tip his hand. _And if they do make a try for him, they're going to have to take on all of us,_ Nate thought, shifting nervously in his seat.

From the angle he was at, Nate could see the immediate reaction of each twin to the other when Lindsey walked into the room and up to the microphones. The look on Eliot's face was pure hatred – undiluted and undisguised.

Lindsey, on the other hand, almost smiled. Almost. Nate thought he even saw a flash of amusement in the twice-dead lawyer's expression.

Any hint of that was gone once Lindsey took his place at the podium; his entourage arranging themselves in chairs set up behind him. Eliot slumped down a little further in his chair, fists clenched in his lap.

"Looking good,"Nate murmured into the com, trying vainly to reassure his hitter.

_"Give it time,"_ Eliot growled.

In front of them, Lindsey cleared his throat, checked the microphone, and smiled at the crowd. "I'd like to thank you all for coming here today," he began. "I know this must have been an enormous shock to you, when you all found out. And why wouldn't it be? In the last few years, Wolfram and Hart has acquired an…unfortunate reputation. Mistakes were made. Errors in judgment, misplaced loyalties, broken promises. Our Los Angeles branch was a cancer – no good to anyone – a blot on our history that we have done our best to erase with its shutdown." He paused, looking sorrowful. "Wwe know that that is not enough. Cutting out the cancer is only the first step to true healing. To that end, we hope to make a new future here in Boston. A new beginning, for us and for this historic city…"

Nate tuned out about that point, ignoring the words and paying attention to the man speaking them. He'd met Lindsey McDonald once, a strange day several months earlier that had begun with him being unexpectedly released from prison, and ended with Lindsey and Eliot's apparent reconciliation – all mere seconds before Lindsey had died again.

One day wasn't really enough to get a read on someone, especially not someone so dedicated to hiding their true nature and motivations.

_Even a lie can give you information if you watch __**how**__ the person lies._ Nate was forced to admit that Lindsey McDonald was a superb orator – a fact that was almost funny when you contrasted it with Eliot's bluntness. Lindsey was saying all the right things, with the right tones. Nate finally lowered his voice and murmured into the com. "Sophie? What do you make of this?"

_"Classic wow-the-crowd style," _Sophie replied. _"Normally for this sort of thing you'd want to portray yourself as down to earth, one of the people, someone who understands them. But he's going another route. He's putting himself above them, making himself out to be the grand prophet, the one who's going to change everything. Grand plans attract ordinary people – they want to be a part of it, and they'll overlook a lot for the purpose of doing so. He's a pro, Nate."_

_"Are you really surprised?" _Eliot growled from his seat. _"He's _Lindsey. _He worked his way up from the _mail room_. He was good enough to get called in by the enemy, and then called in by the bosses he screwed over. When he talks, people listen."_

"How're you doing, Eliot?" Nate asked. He trusted Eliot, but the tone of his hitter's voice was getting dangerous.

Eliot sighed before replying. _"I'll live,"_ which Nate knew by now was his personal code for 'I'll deal, but I won't like it.' _"Long as I don't actually have to _talk _to him, I'll live. Long as I can just sit here and not have to look…"_

Nate couldn't hear the rest of whatever Eliot was saying – a piercing burst of static shot through the room, echoing on his com. At first glance it appeared to be a freak accident – even though Sophie and Eliot had both jumped in their seats and clapped their hands over their ears, the entire audience was looking around the room in confusion and muttering.

At the head of the room, Lindsey was frowning – fiddling with the microphone while trying to make himself heard over the rising noise from the crowd.

_This isn't right._ In all the time Nate had worked with Hardison, only one thing had ever been able to actively interfere with the coms – a simultaneous broadcast on the same frequency. And the chances of another team coincidentally being on the premises right now were so small it was laughable.

That left them with one terrifying alternative: someone knew the frequency. Someone was causing the static. Someone was cutting them off.

Putting the pieces together cost Nate a few precious seconds. When he finally rallied, he looked to Eliot first. The hitter was safe – the static had startled him, but he'd quickly recovered, and was now searching the room for a possible source. Sophie was in a similar condition.

Parker and Hardison were nowhere in sight.


	3. Negotiate and Wait

_No._

Nate scrambled to his feet, desperately seeking a better vantage. The problem was that other people in the audience had also gotten to their feet. They blocked his path as he tried to head for the doors – _Hardison and Parker couldn't have been taken more than a few seconds ago…they could have gotten far…you can still catch up._

By the time Nate started shoving people out of his way, Eliot had come to the same realization about hacker and thief. Eliot didn't bother to shove – he decked the nearest person in his path. Nate froze, watching the chaos erupt around his teammate. Eliot's eyes were wild, and his expression furious. Parker and Hardison were gone, and Nate knew from painful past experience that Eliot would rip the building apart to find them.

And Eliot's method of progress, while a good deal more violent than normal, was at least effective.

Suddenly, Lindsey was there. Nate couldn't work out how he'd gotten off the dais so quickly, or slipped through the milling, confused crowd that still had the rest of them so effectively pinned down. Before Nate could yell a warning, the lawyer laid a hand on Eliot's shoulder.

What happened next was too fast for anyone to stop.

Eliot whirled around, paused for a fraction of a second at the sight of his twin brother, and then dealt the man a roundhouse punch that knocked him to the ground. _Probably left his ears ringing too._

At the exact second Lindsey hit the floor, the feedback suddenly cut out – only to be replaced by the flash of several expensive cameras aimed directly at Eliot. Distracted, desperate and trying to shield his eyes from the unexpected assault, Eliot was easy prey for a two pronged attack by members of Lindsey's entourage, and the security guards that had been stationed by the doors. He went down under a swarm of bodies.

Nate saw him preparing to fight his way back to his feet, and spoke quickly into his com. "Eliot, don't! Stand down! Stand down!"

_"You've got to be kidding me!" _The two men were barely five feet away from one another at this point, but the room was still far too noisy for normal conversation. The coms registered their voices well enough.

_"I can't find Hardison and Parker," _added Sophie suddenly. _"I managed to get out of the room, but there's no sign of them. Nate, we're too late."_

"I know." It killed him too admit it, but he'd messed up. He'd misread the situation – been so focused on guarding Eliot that he'd left the rest of his team completely open to attack. Hardison and Parker were gone, and Eliot was compromised anyway. All he and Sophie could do now was cut their losses and retreat long enough to figure out how to get everyone back safely.

_And I _will _get them back._

"If Lindsey's going to talk, he's going to talk to you," Nate said. "Find out what the hell is going on here. Find out what he wants. I _will _get you out."

_"Not if Lindsey doesn't want you to, you won't." _Eliot was being hauled to his feet, hands cuffed behind his back. One cop was keeping a safe distance while reading the hitter his Miranda Rights. Lindsey was already hurrying back on stage, swaying and staggering just enough to be effective without being unbelievable. He took the microphone, calling for order – trying to urge people back to their seats.

_" Nate," _said Sophie. _"We need to get out of here. Before Lindsey decides to complete the set."_

Nate nodded. "I know."

He looked back at Eliot, who looked back at him. His hitter clearly wasn't happy about the situation, but he nodded back. Nate had given him a job to do, and he knew Eliot would do it. Even if it meant talking to his brother.

Nate left the conference hall. He left the building, angrily brushing away the security guards outside who questioned him as to what had happened. Sophie was waiting for him at the bottom of the steps. Sophie was waiting for him, and that was all that mattered.

She fell into step beside him as he stalked towards the parking lot, where Hardison's van was waiting.

"We were _played_," Nate growled.

Sophie nodded. "We went up against Wolfram and Hart. We should have expected as much."

Nate got into the driver's seat, Sophie got into the passenger's seat. They sat there for a second, tense and scared and impossibly frustrated. In the span of less than five minutes, the team had been systematically picked apart, and they both knew all too well that there was so much they could have done to avoid it.

"All that chasing, all that running around, " Nate murmured. " 'Don't let Wolfram and Hart near Eliot, how are they going to go after Eliot.'" He shook his head. "Eliot wasn't the target on this one, Soph. He was the bait. For us."

"They knew we'd rally to protect him," Sophie finished. "No matter the cost. Even at the expense of our own safety." She put her face in her hands. "Oh, _Nate_, they employ _vampires_. What if…"

"No." Nate shook his head. "No. Lindsey's involved. Even if Eliot wasn't their main target now, it's all but certain that they still want something from him, if Lindsey's involved." He was grasping at straws, he knew he was, but the alternative was too horrific to contemplate. "If anything happens to Hardison and Parker, there's no chance in hell that he'll listen to anything they say. Lindsey's going to have a hell of a job talking to him as it is."

_"Yes. Yes I am."_

Nate and Sophie both went very still and very quiet. The voice that had just spoken to them over the com lines sounded just like Eliot's, but it wasn't. It definitely wasn't.

Chapter Two

"Lindsey McDonald," Nate finally replied, slowly. "I wish I could say it was good to see you back among the living."

_"I wish you could, too,"_ Lindsey replied. _"But I understand if you're upset."_

"Why do you have Eliot's ear piece?"

_"Oh, this isn't Eliot's. This is Parker's." _As Nate and Sophie exchanged looks of frozen terror, the lawyer continued coolly. _"Now, now. Have a little faith in me. As we speak, Alec Hardison and Parker are being transported by my human guards to my brightly lit suite with its very open windows. They'll be safe there."_

"And what about Eliot?" asked Sophie, just as calm, just as cool. Nate was proud of her. _Right now, she probably wants nothing more than to rip his head off and spit down his throat. _But you'd never know it if you didn't know her.

_"Oh, Eliot. Eliot is being transferred to the local precinct, there to be held on charges of aggravated assault."_

"And those charges are being pressed by you?" Sophie asked, curling her lip in a sneer. "Let me tell you something, Evil Dead. If Eliot Spencer hit you and you still have all your teeth, you've got no right to add the word 'aggravated' to that charge."

Lindsey laughed. _"I suppose not. But my employers are quite unhappy with the way things transpired. They keep a close eye on me, after all. The charges are mostly for the look of the thing."_

"Great," Nate sighed. "Well, Lindsey, you have us over a barrel. You have three of my team, and there's no point in pretending that you couldn't have them all killed without any risk to yourself whatsoever. So the question we're left with is why? What do you want from us?"

There was a pause before Lindsey replied. Nate heard him removing the com from his ear, heard the faint murmurs of a conversation with someone else, and then the lawyer replaced the ear piece and spoke.

_"Return to your offices. You will be contacted with more information at a later point."_

Then Lindsey removed the ear piece again, and that was that.

Nate and Sophie drove back to the offices.

Eliot Spencer woke up.

The world was blurred and fuzzy. Someone was speaking; he couldn't make out the words. He was laying on something hard, his surroundings were basically grey.

"Nate…" he murmured. He raised a hand, an action which took far more effort than it should have, and touched his ear, checking for the com. It was a reflex, more than anything else. If the com was still there, things were all right. There was still hope. If the com was gone, they were blown. Things were bad. He had to escape, and _now_.

The com was gone.

"Hey. Sleeping Beauty. Get your ass out of bed already."

Sense and sensory input were all coming back faster, now. Things were coming into clearer focus. He recognized the voice.

It was his voice.

But the words weren't being spoken by him. They were being spoken by his twin brother, leaning against the bars of his cell door and looking utterly bored.

"You _arrested _me?" Eliot demanded, sitting up on his cot and putting a hand to his forehead. The world had lurched unpleasantly as he moved. Then, because he knew that the ache in his head and the heaviness in his limbs meant, he groaned. "You _sedated me?_"

"For my own safety," said Lindsey simply.

"Damn right it was," Eliot growled. "What the hell are you playing at, Linds? What the hell is this about?!"

"I wanted to talk to you. And I figured that the only way to do it without you snapping my neck halfway through was to have you behind bars." His twin smiled devilishly. "All these years, and I can still play you like a violin."

"Yeah." Looking back over those last few minutes in the conference hall, Eliot realized that he could, and he had. Eliot had been panicking about Hardison and Parker, he hadn't been thinking, he hadn't been under control, and Lindsey had known all of that. Lindsey had taken advantage of all of that. "Well, great. Once again, you're the smart brother. And if anything's happened to them, you're going to be the _dead _brother all over again."

"I know. You'll put me back in the ground yourself." Lindsey sighed, obviously bored. "You know I could take you. But that isn't why I did this. Your friends are fine. Hardison's probably halfway through _Jade Empire _by now, and it will take even Parker a while to crack my wall safe and get to my mad money." He took care to look Eliot in the eyes before adding. "I never intended to hurt them."

"Then why did you _take _them?"

"Simple reason, really. What does your boss always call it?" He snapped his fingers, making a play of fumbling for the answer, before smiling triumphantly. "Ah, right. Leverage."


	4. What to do?

Alec Hardison was _confused_.

First there was the static, throwing the room into a brief, but intense chaos. Then the hulking men in black suits had come up to he and Parker – grabbing them each by an arm and spouting some bullshit about their car alarm…about being double parked…about someone having smashed the windshield.

It was lame. He hadn't bought it for a second, and neither had Parker. But then one of the men had _changed_, going from man to monster with a sickeningly organic sound. Hardison had once again found himself face to fang with a vampire.

It was only once he tried to cue Nate on the coms as to what was happening that he realized the feedback being broadcast was on the exact same frequency the team used to communicate with each other. He couldn't see Nate or Sophie from where he was, and there'd been no hope of getting Eliot's attention. Parker was dragged over to join him, and the two of them were quickly ushered from the room – cut off from help or support in every possibly way, shape, and form.

There was no escaping vampires. Their captors had kept a tight grip on them as they were marched deeper into the building. _It's broad daylight out, _he remembered thinking._ No way they'll leave by the front door._

_Oh, god, we're going to die. I never had a date with Freema, I never had a kiss with Parker that wasn't a part of a con, and now we're both gonna die._

They were ushered into a larger, dimly lit room – some kind of storage area, judging by the crates and the open loading dock. More men had been waiting for them, next to some kind of hatch in the floor. The vampires had handed them off, opened the hatch, and descended down a ladder into what had to be the sewers, by the smell. The humans – far more than there had been in the previous group – had taken them out of the loading dock, into the brightly lit sunlight and a waiting van. After having their com units very forcibly confiscated, their guards had climbed in with them.

Hardison and Parker were driven away from the scene.

Their final destination had turned out to be the Seaport Hotel. They'd been forced out of the van and into a service elevator. After a ride of several floors, they were shoved out of the elevator, down a hall, and into the same suite of rooms used by the only "good" vampire Hardison had ever met what seemed like a lifetime ago.

They'd been left there without a word – without any hint of how long they'd be there or what their ultimate fate was likely to be.

A quick investigation of their surroundings revealed snacks and soda in the kitchenette, and a PS3 and an X-Box 360 hooked up to the wide screen television. Parker immediately honed in on the wall safe hidden behind a cityscape portrait. The furniture was more comfortable than he'd had a chance to realize on his previous visit. The windows were huge, and the view was spectacular.

A quick check by Parker had revealed guards lining the hallway outside. There was a signal jammer somewhere in the vicinity, but Hardison and Parker both looked high and low without success.

_Probably not even in the room anyway. _

_All in all, not a bad deal, _Hardison thought, as he doggedly ploughed through the fifth stage of _Devil May Cry 4_. Left without a workable plan for escape, he'd settled in to cause some virtual mayhem. _Least if you ignore the personal MIB detail just outside the door. _

Behind him, Parker had just finished cracking Lindsey's wall safe. Hardison hit the "pause" button, and glanced over his shoulder just in time to see her pull out a wad of cash and a couple of king sized chocolate bars.

"What the hell is he playing at?" she growled, although she unwrapped one of the candy bars anyway. Taking a bite, she held the other out for him.

"No idea," Hardison shrugged, but went over to take the chocolate anyway. "I mean, I used to think Eliot was the proverbial enigma wrapped in a riddle, but he's an open book compared to his brother."

"I mean," Parker went on, "is he going to kill us with vampires or boredom? Is he feeding us chocolate so our blood is nice and sweet when they drain us dry?"

Hardison decided to ignore that last part. "And why snatch us in the first place? What good are we to the big boys at Wolfram and Hart?"

Parker snorted. "Well, _that's _obvious."

"Oh, yeah? Care to enlighten those of us in the peanut gallery?"

"Sure." Parker perched herself on the counter and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Eliot's big and tough. He can beat vampires. If they tried to snatch him, especially if they tried it in broad daylight, he'd put them all in the hospital. Including Lindsey." She paused, smiling at the thought of Eliot beating up his brother.

_Not a bad image,_ Hardison was forced to admit.

"Not us, though," Parker continued. "We're just weak, ordinary little humans. Perfect for a snatch and grab. Tasty vamp food, too, if it comes to that. We're in danger, Nate loses his mind, Wolfram and Hart gets whatever they want."

It was said much too calmly, as though Parker was commenting on the weather. It was chilling; as Parker went back to munching on her candy bar, Hardison forcibly reminded himself that the girl was insane. He loved her to death – he always would – but she was nuttier than her chocolate bar.

"Cheer up," she said. Hardison realized with a flash of guilt that some of his depression must have finally shown on his face. "We're still worth more alive than dead. Probably still worth more alive than undead."

"Let's hope," he said. Which was harder than it should have been. No coms, no way of reaching the team, and no feasible way of escaping. With that sobering reminder, he finished up his candy, grabbed some more Cheetos from the cupboard, and went back to navigating Dante through the latest dungeon.

Behind him, Parker crumpled up her wrapper and tossed it at the wall. "I don't think we should let Lindsey join the team anymore," she grumbled.

Hardison didn't have the heart to reply.

* * *

"Leverage means you're after something," Eliot said. "You're either trying to control us, or you want us for a job. Whichever one it is, no deal."

Lindsey sighed. "You used to do jobs for us all the time, Eliot. All kinds of jobs. We paid you well, we kept our word, and I made sure you knew everything you needed to know." He paused, giving Eliot the chance to argue with him.

_Not that I could._ Eliot knew everything Lindsey was saying was true, but that was a different time. _And a different me._

"Wasn't a bad setup, right?" Lindsey studied him for a long moment – almost as if he didn't already understand Eliot's objection to the whole mess. "What the hell's with the cold feet? It's not a big deal."

Eliot scowled. "I'm not getting cold feet, Linds. I just don't need your money anymore, I don't owe you or the Senior Partners a thing, and I want to keep it that way."

"Too bad," Lindsey said. "The Senior Partners apparently see it differently."

That got Eliot's attention. "This is about me, then." He wondered fleetingly why he'd ever wasted the energy questioning Nate's assessment.

His twin snorted derisively. "Nobody else owes their life to Wolfram & Hart like you do. You may think you're free, Eliot, but believe me – they still see you as an investment. One they're determined to have pay off."

Eliot thought about Parker and Hardison. He believed Lindsey when he claimed they were being held in comfort – his twin knew full well what Eliot would do if any of the team were hurt or killed.

The problem was that he knew just how far Lindsey would go to get what he wanted. It wasn't irredeemably far, otherwise they wouldn't be standing here having this conversation – but it was farther than Eliot wanted any of his team subjected to. "What do you want?"

Lindsey smiled, and Eliot shook his head. "I get any of your smart-ass observations on life, Lindsey, I will reach through these bars and kill you." He paused. "What do you want?"

"Come in voluntarily," Lindsey said finally. "Agree to meet with Special Projects. I could force you, but I want you to see that this is a good deal, Eliot." He chuckled softly. "Plus, I can't afford to lose too many foot soldiers this early in the game."

Eliot was quiet for a long moment, weighing his options. He had no doubt that right now Nate and Sophie were pulling together a plan, and he was reasonably sure that Parker and Hardison were working on an escape. The problem was that none of them knew how royally outclassed they were. They'd faced vampires, sure, but they hadn't faced Lindsey MacDonald and his world-swallowing ambition.

"Parker and Hardison go free," he said finally. "You and Special Projects keep your hands off the rest of the team."

Lindsey looked almost comically uncertain. "I don't control Special Projects, Eliot. I can't give you any guarantees they won't take an interest in your people sometime in the future."

Eliot folded his arms across his chest. "Special Projects wants me for something, that's the price. You want this deal, you'll convince them."

* * *

What he really wanted was something to throw. Nate finally forced himself to step away from the desk before Hardison's laptop became too much of a temptation to resist. "This is ridiculous." He stalked into the kitchen and poured himself another cup of coffee.

"I think it would be easier to take if I wasn't sure the little prick is enjoying this," Sophie sighed. "Nate, we can't keep dancing to his tune. It doesn't make any sense."

Nate watched the cream swirling into his coffee and wrestled down the obligatory thought about how much better it would taste with a shot of Irish whiskey. "You're right," he said finally. "We need to get in front on this, or it's all over. I'm tired of letting that little bastard get the drop on us."

Sophie moved to stand on the opposite side of the counter from him. "Nate, it was a good plan. We all thought so." She slid her hand across the granite to cover his with a comforting squeeze. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

He chuckled bitterly. "It's what I do," he said, meeting her gaze finally. They shared a moment of perfect understanding, then Sophie perched on a nearby stool.

"Okay," she said. "Even though Parker and Hardison are in more danger, I think we need to work on getting Eliot back first."

"I don't know that they're necessarily in more danger," Nate said. "Lindsey's using them as hostages, but he's got to know how Eliot's going to react if anything happens to them." He said a quick, silent prayer for the thief and the hacker, and then continued, "I agree Eliot's our first priority, however." He glanced up at the clock. "Lindsey's most likely met with him by now and given him at least some idea what's going on."

"Plus he's in police custody – easier to get to," Sophie said.

Nate raised an eyebrow at that, but let the comment pass. "Get down there and see what you can do. Don't take any unnecessary chances – getting him out would be terrific, but it may not be possible." He paused, working the problem over in his mind. "We have to assume Lindsey has some provision in place for the fact that Eliot's prints are lighting up law enforcement networks across the globe by now."

"I'll do what I can," Sophie said. "And while I'm gone, you're going to be calling Faith, right?"

Nate flinched. "I don't want her involved, Sophie. Not yet. Not until we have a clearer idea what Lindsey's up to." He picked up his coffee and started to leave the kitchen – Sophie had a tendency to push physical closeness when she was trying to convince him to do something, and as stressed out as he was, Nate didn't want to chance what might happen.

"Nate," Sophie said sharply – her fatigue and frustration coming through loud and clear, "she is our best chance of getting ahead of this thing, and you know it!"

"I will not risk my daughter on this!" Nate snapped, rounding on Sophie so fiercely that the grifter drew back in shock. "Not while there's still a chance we can get this under control."

"Lucky for you…" Nate's heart sank as they both turned towards the door of the apartment, knowing immediately who had slipped in at just the wrong moment. "…my involvement's not your decision to make."

Faith stood just inside the open door, idly passing her keys from one hand to the other. "Hey, Pops," she said, nodding at Nate. "Wanna fill me in?"


	5. Plan L

_Eliot in jail._ Faith didn't like the sound of that, and added one more mark to her mental tally of how much pain she was going to dish out to Lindsey MacDonald, Attorney at Law when she finally caught up with him.

After greetings had been exchanged, Sophie had declared her intention to continue on to the police station and see what she could do for the hitter. "We're supposed to be receiving further instructions," Nate said by way of explanation. Faith could tell how little her father thought of the situation.

"Who called you?" he asked, as soon as Sophie had left and the two of them were alone again.

Faith flopped down on the sofa and put her boots up on the coffee table. "You should have," she said reproachfully. "The second you knew old W & H was setting up shop in your backyard." She'd always enjoyed how protective Nate got about her safety, but Faith knew now she'd have to put a stop to it if it meant Nate was going to keep putting her safety above his. "I'm the superhero, Nate – not you."

Her father bristled predictably at that. "I didn't think we needed a superhero," he said. "There was nothing to indicate that Wolfram & Hart opening up a branch office had anything to do with us."

"Yeah," Faith drawled, "how's that working out for you?" Point made, she sobered. "Nobody called me. Okay, Xander called me – but it didn't involve Eliot getting his ass tossed in jail as part of some big conspiracy."

"And Parker and Hardison getting taken out of the press conference by vampires," Nate admitted.

Faith blinked. "After we're through kicking Eliot's twin back to hell, you and I are so having a talk about job responsibilities. You call me the second someone even starts saying the word 'vampire' in your hearing." She was grateful that her father was finally starting to look embarrassed, but that did nothing to bank off the frustration now washing through her. "Dammit, Nate!"

He sighed. "You're here now. And if you can help me figure a way out of this mess, I will promise to do whatever you tell me I need to do in the future."

Lindsey's first concession to vulnerability came once he'd reached the safety of his car. He dry-swallowed three ibuprofen tablets, and said a silent prayer of thanks to whatever force was watching that Eliot's punch hadn't broken his jaw. It had gone against every instinct Lindsey had to stand still and wait for the blow to connect, but he'd had to make it look good for the reporters and the police.

He made a mental note to get a copy of whatever footage made it to the evening news that night.

_This shouldn't have been necessary,_ he thought, shoving back a small surge of guilt. The old Eliot wouldn't have needed to be played like this. The old Eliot would have needed a phone call and some knowledge of what payment he could expect.

_And to be kept informed,_ he remembered. _I always made sure he knew everything he needed to know._ The deals he'd pulled Eliot in on had never been lily white, but it was a point of pride for Lindsey that he'd never once double-crossed his twin when it came to a job. _Cost me big too._

Eliot was family, though, and Lindsey's responsibility. Even if he'd sometimes made calls on Eliot's behalf that his twin hadn't agreed with, he'd always made them with Eliot's best interests in mind.

He didn't like what his brother's association with Nathan Ford had twisted him into.

He didn't like it at all.

His executive assistant was waiting for him when he arrived back at the offices twenty minutes later. "They're here, sir," he said, falling immediately into step with Lindsey as they crossed the lobby. "We took them straight to the barracks level, and the team you assigned is helping them get settled."

_And that would be the other pain in my ass,_ Lindsey thought. Out loud he said, "Get hold of Peters. I want to know where Faith Lehane is right this second." He stopped so suddenly that his assistant drew back a step. "Tell him that if she's not already in Boston or on her way, I will expect his resignation on my desk by close of business tonight."

"Your lawyer's here," the guard called.

Eliot was only marginally surprised to see Sophie walk in behind the guard on duty. He rolled to his feet and met her at the bars. "Figured it was gonna be Nate," he said.

"Your brother gave specific orders that we return to the loft and 'wait for further instructions'" Sophie said – clearly annoyed. "With Parker and Hardison out of the way…"

Eliot sighed. "He's playing you guys, Sophie. Lindsey's rules are set up so that he's the only winner – you play by them, and he'll take you every time."

Smiling ruefully, Sophie gestured at the bars separating them. "Like when you punched him in the face?"

"Yeah, well, I'm outta practice," Eliot admitted. "Hard enough dealing with him being alive, let alone being as much of an asshole as he used to be." He paused. "If you guys have a plan for getting to Parker and Hardison, you need to let me know what it is. Lindsey's offered a deal, but I don't want to take it if I don't have to."

Sophie's concern was immediate and obvious. "What is it?"

Eliot shrugged. "Just a meeting about a job they want me to do. It's not a big deal, Soph – he's playing softball right now. This is our chance to get on top of this thing – before he tightens up his game."

"Well, the game may have changed somewhat," Sophie said thoughtfully. "Faith showed up just before I left, and she did not appear happy that we tried to exclude her."

Eliot exhaled sharply. He could tell Sophie was relieved to have the extra firepower, but he would have felt better if they'd managed to keep the Slayer out of things for a while longer. _Girl's crazy,_ he reminded himself. _You can't trust crazy._

"Get me out of here," he said finally, making his decision. "Whatever we can pull off. Lindsey's expecting to let me stew for at least a couple hours, possibly all night. Having Faith in the fight definitely improves our chances of getting Parker and Hardison back, and then we've stolen back his so-called 'leverage'."

"Assuming we can figure out where he's holding them," Sophie said.

Eliot grinned at her. "I know exactly where he's holding them."

"How?"

Eliot remembered his twin's smirk. "The arrogant sonofabitch told me."

He'd insisted on cooking, once they'd heard from Sophie and knew that she was working on getting Eliot out. Faith sat at the counter and watched Nate putting together the ingredients for an omelet like he'd been doing it all his life. "The things you learn about people," she said, smiling at him. "I figured you for the take out type."

Nate poured the mixture he'd prepared into a skillet, and added ingredients from different bowels he'd set beside the stove. "Prison kitchen and a good imagination," he admitted. "Once you know the basics, the rest is easy."

He glanced up at her. "What'd they have you do? You were in what…four years?"

Faith did the math in her head. "'Bout that, yeah." It wasn't exactly the sort of bonding experience she'd expected to ever share with Nate, but as long as he was comfortable talking about it, Faith figured she could indulge him. "Mostly, they had me keep out of everybody's way." She sighed. "Lots of psych evaluations, lots of behavioral rehab…mostly they just wanted to make sure I didn't provoke the other inmates."

Nate exhaled softly. "I'm sorry. I forgot your experience was so much different than mine." He winced. "I didn't think."

She waved him off. "Not so different. I'm betting where they had you they didn't let the murderers in the kitchen either."

That got a smile, as she'd intended. Peace restored, Nate divided the omelet between two plates, and passed one to her. "You never told me why you're here," he said. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I get the sense this isn't just a normal visit."

Faith chewed the first bite of her food and swallowed. "Got a call from Slayer HQ," she said. "We've had a little over a hundred girls drop out of sight in the past two weeks. Most of them were borderline cases to begin with, which technically makes them my responsibility."

"All by yourself?" Nate asked.

She smiled at him. "It's okay, Pops. Part of the job description." She took another bite, chewed and swallowed before continuing. "I was hoping Hardison could give me some idea where to start. Now that I know W & H is setting up shop here in town, however…"

"You think they've recruited these Slayers?" Nate asked.

Faith shrugged. "Not impossible. Most of these girls didn't ask for this gig, and the power makes them a little crazy. Somebody like Wolfram & Hart comes along, offers them money…direction…" She smiled bitterly. "It can look really sweet." Memories of her own experiences with the evil law firm crowded close.

Nate reached across the counter and squeezed her hand. Faith blinked back tears, grateful that he didn't do any more than that. Every time she allowed some of the truth of who she was to slip out and Nate didn't dismiss or reject it was a gift that she'd never expected to have for herself.

The moment was shattered when the door to the apartment opened, and Eliot and Sophie came in. "We're back!" Sophie called.

Faith pivoted on her stool and saw Eliot standing just behind Sophie. "You're late," she said, trying to mask the fact that her stomach had tightened quite pleasantly at the sight of him.

"Family obligation," Eliot shot back. He and Sophie joined them at the breakfast counter. "You know what a bitch those can be." He bumped lightly against her shoulder. "Glad to see you."

"Glad to be seen," Faith returned, hastily taking another bite of her omelet, and deliberately avoiding her father's glare. Her…thing…with Eliot had been the first set of boundaries Faith and Nate had set in their relationship. Nate didn't approve of Faith and Eliot's interest in each other, and since Faith couldn't be in the same room with Eliot without wanting to be near him, she'd eventually told Nate point blank that he had no say in the matter.

The concession to family harmony had been that she and Eliot agreed to do what they could not to push their involvement in Nate's presence.

"Hardison and Parker are at the Seaport," Sophie said, providing a timely and welcome distraction. "Lindsey's apparently moved into the corporate suite."

"I don't know if it's the same place Angel was using," Eliot said, glancing at Faith. "He made a point of saying that it was well lit."

Faith remembered the luxury suite of rooms that she'd shared with the vampire a lifetime ago. "It is," she said. "Angel said they spent a fortune on curtains – those windows are ridiculously large." She ran the layout of the place through her mind. "Wanna go for a ride?" she asked Eliot finally. It wasn't an impossible snatch and grab on her own, but it would be nice to have the backup for a change.

"I'm driving," Eliot said. "That baby toy you call a bike isn't big enough for both of us."

"We're all going," Nate said, cutting off any reply Faith might have made. "Nobody goes anywhere without backup until we put all the pieces together."

"You're not taking on vampires," Faith said, locking eyes with her father.

Nate didn't flinch from her gaze. "Sophie and I can keep a lookout for Lindsey." He softened slightly, reaching out and touching Faith lightly on the cheek. "You don't get to manage me either, understand? This is my job, and the safety of this crew is my responsibility."

After a moment, Faith nodded. "Yeah, Pops. I get it."


	6. Break for it

"Knew those old reruns of _MacGyver _would come in handy someday…"

"Are you done yet?" asked Parker. She was watching him without much interest, simply because he was the only thing in the room that was moving. Hardison let himself feel a little offended. Here he was, completing the last phase of their escape plan, and she was only paying attention because she was bored of _Fatal Frame._

Even so, it might also be a sign of her confidence in him. She knew he could successfully rewire this toaster, and so she didn't feel the need to get too hot and bothered by the whole affair. Or maybe she was just saving her strength for the escape.

_'Course, she's got the easy part, so I don't even know._

But he carefully made a few more adjustments, crossed a few more wires, and let out his breath in relief as a few sparks flew from the mangled toaster. "Aw, yeah…"

Parker finally got up from the couch to join him at the kitchen counter. She took a critical look at his toaster-turned-taser. "How much voltage can we expect out of this?"

"Ever been hit with a Taser?"

She grinned in an honestly unsettling fashion. "Yeah?"

"'Bout that much."

"Ooh…you know, we could do even more damage if we got the floor wet first. You know, like dropping the toaster in the bathtub, but without the bathtub."

Hardison stared at her for a second, reminded himself that she was probably serious, and shook his head. "We're the good guys here, Parker," he reminded her.

"Yeah, and that's _Wolfram and Hart_ out there," she shot back. "Nate would forgive us. We only get one shot at this."

Her offer was…honestly tempting, given the desperate nature of their situation, but Hardison shook his head again. "I hack. You steal. We've gotta hurt these guys to get out, and I accept that, but no one's getting killed today."

"Especially not us?"

"_Especially _not us." Hardison pulled a box of rubber gloves out from under the sink and slipped on a pair. "All right. Let's do this thing."

"Right." Parker slid off the kitchen sink and went over to one of the suite's large bay windows. Picking the lock was the work of a second, before she eased the window open. She looked back at Hardison, and nodded.

The guards outside didn't pay much attention when the argument started. The hacker and thief had been locked in the suite for several hours, now, and even in such a spacious set of rooms as the Seaport provided, cabin fever was always a possibility.

They did stiffen up when a loud _thump _echoed behind the door, followed an instant later by a female scream. The male began babbling incoherently, before rushing to the door and banging on it. "Hey! _Hey!_"

After a few minutes, it became clear that he was not going to shut up, and so one of the guards risked opening the door. He found himself face-to-face with the hacker, fist half raised to pound on the door some more.

The guard raised his gun and indicated that the man should step aside. Hardison did so, looking grim and scared. Once he had, the guard and the ones that tentatively followed him inside could see the thief sprawled on the floor in the little kitchen, evidently unconscious.

"Please," Hardison was begging. "We, we got into this fight, she was tryin' to escape, an' I _told _her, I kept tellin' her, but she wouldn't an' we fought and I didn't mean to…"

There was no evident sign of injury, but the guards went to investigate, anyway. Lindsey had given very explicit instructions. The prisoners were not to be harmed in any way, shape, or form. They hadn't been responsible for whatever had happened to Parker – that was on Hardison's conscience – but to a man the security detail knew their employer wouldn't care.

Hardison watched them, carefully, as a few of the guards gathered round Parker. He waited, holding his breath, until enough had his back to him.

Then he picked up the mangled toaster and pressed it into the back of the nearest man.

There was a _sizzle_ sound. Smoke rose, sparks flew, and the man screamed out in pain and collapsed, the force of the electricity from the toaster eating a hole through the back of his jacket.

Hardison's mind was racing. Okay, his makeshift Taser worked, but it was noisy as hell when they screamed out in pain and collapsed and oh, _god_, the rest of them were turning his way…

Parker catapulted up from the floor like an angry cat, punching and kicking out with a frightening precision. That distracted some more of the guards; Hardison took advantage of that fact to zap a few before they could point their guns at him.

Several crowded seconds passed in a blur of fists, feet, electric shocks, and cries for backup.

That left some guards down, but way more to go, and there were still too many outside.

It wasn't the most elegant of plans, but it was all they had. Hardison hefted the toaster-gun, shoved his way out the door, and ran down the hall like a bat out of hell, aiming for the elevators and praying that Parker could keep up. He zapped the two guards directly outside the door, shoved another aside, and raced down the hallway. Behind him, he heard a brief scuffle taking place. He could only hope that it was Parker getting a few last shots in. He heard a body hit the floor, then footsteps racing after him. They were light footsteps, barely making a sound on the floor. He hoped that meant it was Parker.

But Hardison didn't dare check until he'd reached the elevator and jammed the "down" button three times. Only then did he risk a glance over his shoulder. Parker was indeed following him. So were a couple of the guards, the ones that he hadn't managed to zap.

"Come on, come on…" he muttered feverishly, watching the number over the door slowly counting higher. He remembered something about how a watched clock went slower, but he couldn't look away.

Parker stumbled to a stop beside him just as the elevator let out a "ding". The doors slid open; Hardison hurried inside, pulling Parker after him. He whirled and jammed the button for the first floor, follow by the "door shut" button just as the last of the guards reached them. One of them made a grab for Parker, and just barely managed to get the hem of her shirt. The doors were sliding shut, but the guard in question was bigger and heavier than Parker. He pulled, and the thief stumbled back a few steps, back towards the doors. The sensors went off as she got too close, and the doors froze just shy of pinching Parker between them.

Parker snarled, whirled, and dealt the guard and vicious jab to the face that knocked him off of her and into the opposite wall. She stepped back then, jabbed the "door shut" button again, and even helped push the doors shut this time, glowering at the one remaining guard as she did so.

Then the elevator doors shut. Hardison felt a faint jolt in his stomach as it began to descend, and only then did he remember to breathe. He collapsed against the wall, panting, wondering if the way his heart was beating frantically against his ribcage meant he was having some kind of heart attack. _Please, dear Lord, let me get out of this and I swear I will make my next bag of salt and vinegar potato chips last a whole week._

"We made it," he panted, once he trusted himself to speak without crying.

Parker was watching the floor counter above the buttons. "Too easy," she murmured.

"Woman, in what universe was that '_too easy'_?"

"We're still alive. That's why."

"But we made it, Parker! We did, just look. Few more seconds and we'll be safe on the ground."

Then the elevator let out a "ding", and juddered to a halt. The doors rumbled and prepared to open, but Parker had jammed the "door close" button before the mechanism had a chance to react.

"Parker, what?" Hardison snapped. He didn't mean to snap, but he was tired and scared and there was just a time and a place for crazy.

"Look," said Parker quietly. She was still staring at the floor counter.

Hardison followed her gaze. A blood red, digital "3" was being displayed.

"Someone called us down," Parker continued. "Before we hit the ground."

The hacker swallowed painfully. "Maybe it's just one of the guests?"

Parker spared him a look of pity. "You really think that?"

Hardison had to admit to himself that he didn't. He shook his head. "Nah. It's never that easy."

With a sigh, Parker released the button. The doors rumbled again, and slowly opened. "Bingo."

What met their eyes was a sight right out of their worst nightmares. It was shaped like a human – two arms, two legs, one head. But it wasn't, it clearly wasn't. The face was where the true terror was, the monstrous, patently inhuman face. A ridged, overhanging brow right out of the dawn of time, piercing yellow eyes that stared straight through them, and the _fangs_. Always, always the fangs, gleaming in the elevator lights and wickedly sharp. _Perfect for tearing through a protesting victim's neck muscles without any kind of effort at allt. _

They saw all of this, remembered all of this in the span of a second. The vampire opened its mouth in a snarl…

…before collapsing into dust.

As it fell away, Hardison and Parker could clearly see the woman who had been standing just behind it, the woman who had staked it before it had the chance to get at them. Tall and strong and wild, with long dark hair and dark eyes, she was all too familiar.

_Family resemblance an' all, _thought Hardison, dazed.

Faith brushed the remains of the vampire from her hands before glancing over her shoulder. "We clear?"

From around the corner, Hardison heard the sound of flesh being punctured. An angry snarl followed shortly after it, and then Eliot strode into view, brushing dust from his shirt. "Yeah. We're clear. Not for long, though – we'd better move."

"So we move." Faith glanced back at Hardison and Parker and smiled wryly. "Hey, kids. Cavalry's here. You both okay?"

"Y-Yeah," Hardison stammered. He stepped out of the elevator, and then tilted his head so Faith could get a good look at his neck. "No bite marks."

"No bite marks," Parker echoed, stepping off after him and brushing her hair aside so that Faith could get a good look at her neck.

"Good deal." Faith looked at Eliot again as he joined their little group. "Means I won't have to drag things out before I put him back in the ground."

"Before _I _put him back in the ground," Eliot growled.

Faith looked about to retort, before Hardison amazed himself by cutting her off. "Look, mighty hunters, mind marking your territories later? When we're not in a building full of vampires?"

Faith smirked, slipping an arm around Hardison's shoulder. "Relax. Top floors are probably still swarmin', yeah. But Eliot and I staked our way up here – we're five by five, long as we go down instead of up."

"Then I say we go down," said Parker firmly. She went to Eliot and made an effort to push him along. "Go, go!"

"Don't push me," Eliot snapped, but he took the hint and took point. Parker followed so close behind that Eliot looked uncomfortable. Hardison trailed Parker. Faith took rear guard. They trooped down two floors of stairs, as Hardison and Parker flatly refused to get back in the elevators. Their little battle formation attracted several stares once they hit the lobby, but Faith returned every stare with a smile and after that people were suddenly far too busy to wonder what the rescuers and the rescued were up to.

Nate and Sophie met them by the doors. "All clear?" asked Sophie.

"For now," said Eliot.

Nate looked hard at Hardison and Parker. "Are you both all right?"

Parker nodded. Hardison shrugged, a gesture which brought his toaster gun to the attention of the others. Nate stared at it. "Hardison…"

"Just call me _MacGyver_," Hardison said simply. "Don't touch it, or we'll be draggin' you back to the office."

Nate and Sophie looked suitably impressed as they joined the battle formation. Faith and Eliot cast one last careful look around the lobby, looking for last signs of Wolfram and Hart's employees. Judging by the ways their eyes lingered on a few seemingly random hotel visitors, Hardison and Parker knew that they weren't out of the woods yet.


	7. Damage Done, Damage Still To Do

They hustled out the door.

Then Hardison all but winced as his com unit suddenly came back online, once they finally crossed the threshold of the Seaport. "Frakkin' signal jammers," he muttered.

"Did you get mine back yet?" Parker demanded. "Lindsey stole it!"

"Not yet," Eliot said. "But I'm goin' in to meet with him, later. I'll get it back then."

"You're going in to _meet_ with him?" Parker demanded. She hurried up to stand beside Eliot as the four of them hurried down the street away from the Seaport. "No! Bad idea!"

"That's what I thought, at first," said Faith, maintaining her position as the rear guard. "Then some new info filtered through. Courtesy of some of my gang from out of town."

"Oh, yeah?" asked Hardison.

"_Oh_, yeah." Faith cast a careful glance around the street. "Turns out, we might just be even more fucked then you probably thought when Wolfram and Hart blew into town. I've got game changing news, boys and girls."

"How so?" asked Parker, who still looked more fascinated than concerned.

Eliot shook his head. "Not out here," he said. "Can't afford to get distracted. Wouldn't put it past Lindsey to have a few guys on the street keeping an eye on us. We'll fill you in once we're back at Nate's place."

"And figure out where the hell we go from here," finished Faith grimly.

Parker and Hardison exchanged worried looks. Eliot and Faith went back to functioning as front and rear guards, respectively, without exchanging another word between them. The looming threat of Wolfram and Hart, which had been hanging over all their heads for days now, now seemed all the more real and all the more dangerous after everything that had happened even in the last hour.

No one said anything the rest of the trip home.

Hardison and Parker were safe. The team was back together, plus Faith. Here and now, Nate's apartment felt like the safest place on Earth. For the moment, things were peaceful.

The six of them wound up gathering around Nate's kitchen counter to deal with the next problem on the list. Faith quickly brought Hardison and Parker up to speed and paused afterwards just long enough for them to deal with the gut wrenching terror brought on by just what her news meant for them.

"Lawyers, vampires, and Slayers," gulped Hardison.

"Oh, my," finished Parker.

"The problem, once again, is that we have nothing concrete to work with," said Nate, managing with some difficulty to keep his bitterness at that fact out of his voice. He knew that Hardison and Parker had been through the ringer, but he needed them now. He needed the team, and the team needed their leader. "We know that these Slayers have dropped off the radar, we know that they're prime candidatesfor recruitment by Wolfram and Hart…"

"…but we don't actually know if Wolfram and Hart has taken that initiative," finished Sophie.

"And if they have, we don't know where they're keeping these girls or what they plan to do with 'em," added Eliot.

"So what we _do _know turns out to be 'jack' and 'squat'," grumbled Hardison.

Nate bit back a sigh, but he couldn't argue. "Pretty much," he said. "A fact that we need to rectify."

"Oh, yeah?" Hardison was clearly skeptical. "Is this plan anything like your _last_ plan? Y'know, the one that got Parker and I into that mess in the first place?"

Nate froze. Sophie sucked in a breath, and Faith looked surprised. Nate knew she'd always assumed Hardison to be the one who kept his mouth shut and blindly followed orders. Even Eliot had more of an instinct to rebel against Nate's direction, provided that it didn't endanger the team.

All three of his teammates were watching Hardison with some concern, but the hacker didn't seem to notice. He was glaring at Nate instead, tense, angry, and upset. Faith was tense, looking as though she was trying to think of something to say that might diffuse the situation. Nate had never gotten around to telling her just how and why Wolfram and Hart had managed to kidnap Hardison and Parker, but she could see Hardison wasn't taking it well.

To his relief, Eliot finally stepped in.

"Yes and no," he said quietly, gazing levelly at Hardison.

"And just _what _the hell is that supposed to mean?!" the hacker snapped.

"Means we need to know what the hell is going on. Means we need to deal with Lindsey. Means I'm our best bet, and I'm probably the one he's interested in." He looked away from Hardison, at the rest of team and at Faith most especially, making certain he had their attention. "Means you're all still in danger, and until we figure out what he wants with me…what _they _want with _us_…there's nothing we can do about that."

Nate was grateful for Eliot's support, and decided that he could trust himself to take over the meeting again. Hardison didn't look the least bit mollified, but Nate didn't expect him to. _At least he trusts Eliot. Even if he doesn't trust me right now._ "Lindsey intended to use you both as bargaining chips to get Eliot to come in and speak with him. Even though you're both home safe, we're going to keep that meeting."

He reached up and carefully removed his com unit. The rest of his team stared at him blankly for a second, before comprehension dawned.

Lindsey still had Parker's com unit.

Slowly, almost ceremonially, Eliot, Hardison, and Sophie each removed their ear buds and laid them next to Nate's. Hardison gathered them up, brought them over to the couch, and hid them under the cushions.

"We're going to keep that meeting," Nate repeated, once Hardison had taken his seat again. "but we're going to change the rules. Eliot, you're once again our bait. Be on your best behavior. Lindsey is still your brother, and as far as he's concerned that counts for something. While you're doing that…" He glanced at Parker. "…Parker will break into the building and search for information on their plans for the rogue Slayers."

"Alone?" Faith asked, raising her eyebrows. She knew the little thief was impossibly good at what she did, but she also knew that Wolfram and Hart would spare no expense on mundane _or _magical defenses.

"No," said Nate. "Faith, you'll go with her. Vampire, human, I don't care. If something tries to stop you or call for back up, get rid of it. No quarter."

Faith and Parker exchanged looks. There was no love lost between the two of them, and there never had been. Faith found Parker impossibly annoying, and far too nosy for her own good. Parker found Faith scary as anything, and that was really all there was to it.

But when they looked at one another, Faith tried to let it show without words that she would have Parker's back. Parker seemed to believe her.

"So basically, we're all gonna b eeven more in it than we were at the press conference," grumbled Hardison.

"Yes," said Nate simply. "And I wish I could do something about that, but I can't. None of us can. Hardison, you'll be monitoring the building's security. Smooth the way for Parker and Faith wherever you can. Stealth is our priority. We need them to think we're playing their game, until Parker has what we need, and she and Faith are out of the building."

"If all goes according to plan," he finished, "we'll come out of this with some kind of idea of what we're up against."

"And if it doesn't?" demanded Hardison.

Nate didn't say anything. He couldn't begrudge Hardison his fear; the best way to make sure it wouldn't affect the job was to let him vent here, in safety. Parker laid a hand on the hacker's shoulder, but he shook her off. "No. Nuh-uh. No way, man. This is _exactly _the same goddamn thing you did at the press conference, only now we're all putting our necks on the choppin' block."

"Yes, yes you are," Nate said, in a voice that was so unnaturally calm he scared himself. "Are you surprised?"

Hardison glowered at Nate, the look on his face full of a rage Nate hadn't seen since forcing Hardison to blow up his beloved Lucille. Faith took a careful step towards him, and Nate held up a hand – warning her off. He knew she was worried about dissension in the ranks, and wanted to protect him, but this needed to happen. Hardison wasn't going to escalate things into the physical.

Not yet.

He was proven right a moment later, when Hardison straightened up, shot Nate one last look of disgust, and stalked over to the spiral staircase. He stomped upstairs without another word or a backward glance, and that was that.

Parker looked as though she wanted to go after him. She made to stand, then froze and glanced uncertainly back at Nate.

"Does everyone understand their part in this?" asked Nate, directing the question to everyone but keeping his eyes on Parker.

Faith nodded. Sophie nodded. Eliot nodded, but he still didn't look happy about it. Parker nodded.

"I understand," she said, and then she ran for the spiral stairs and chased after Hardison. Nate waited until she was properly upstairs before he let out a sigh.

"You can't really blame him for that," said Eliot quietly.

Nate didn't look at him. "Call your brother," he ordered.

Parker found Hardison sitting on Nate's bed, chin in his hands, staring at the opposite wall. He'd gotten up here barely two minutes before she had, and he already had an impressive brood underway.

"Ah…hi," she said tentatively, hovering in the doorway.

"Hey," said Hardison dully.

"Are you okay?"

Her teammate shook his head. "Nah."

He didn't look angry anymore. He looked sad, defeated, tired and empty, but he didn't look angry. That made a world of difference, as far as Parker was concerned. She wasn't prepared to deal with an angry Hardison. If she was brutally honest with herself, and she was good at that, she wasn't prepared to deal with the idea of Hardison being angry at all.

But he wasn't angry now, and so she carefully entered the room and sat down next to him on the bed.

To her honest surprise, Hardison was the first to speak.

"I didn't mean…what I said down there."

Parker smiled sadly. "Yeah, you did."

Hardison sighed. "Yeah, I did," he said. "I guess what I meant was, I meant it, but I'm not gonna let it keep me out of the game. Especially not if you're going into ground zero this time. I mean, I know we're in a bad place here. I know we're going up against Wolfram and Hart and we probably don't have a chance in hell. But I've got all y'all's backs. I've got _your _back."

He looked up at her, and Parker saw nothing but sincerity in his eyes. She smiled at him, and this time she meant it.


	8. Design Flaws

_"You know, I would have given them back."_

Eliot sighed. "I couldn't trust that."

_"All I wanted was a chance to talk to you. Without a wall of bars between us."_

"Well, you'll still get it." He looked at Nate, and was gratified to see hints that the mastermind wasn't happy about this course of action either.

_"Really?"_

"Yeah. Tomorrow. I'll hear what you have to say. I owe you that much." _Besides_, he thought, _what choice do I have?_

_"Yeah, you do. So, why go to all the trouble and save me paying a few dozen paychecks if you always intended to come in and talk?"_

That was easy. "I may owe you, but I still don't trust you. Not anymore. Parker and Hardison are safe, and that's the only reason I'm coming near you at all."

His response seemed to amuse Lindsey. _ "All right. I'll take that. We don't care why you're here, as long as you're here."_

"I'm not looking for a fight, Lindsey," Eliot added. "Not this time."

_"Neither are we. Especially not against you. Here and Wolfram and Hart, we like to look after our investments."_

"And I'm an 'investment'?"

_"You always were." Lindsey was quiet for a moment. "Hey, cheer up. This'll be good for you. And your little team. I wouldn't insult you by making an offer that wasn't worth your time."_

Eliot had to give him that much. "No. You wouldn't."

_"Haven't I always taken care of you?"_

"So you say."

_"So I have. You may not like it, Eliot, but them's the breaks. This deal is no different. When can we expect you tomorrow?"_

Eliot looked at Faith, blowing out a quiet breath. She'd suggested the time, pointing out that since the missing girls were mostly just that – girls – there was likely to be less organized activity going on. "Early morning. Seven. I want to get this over with."

_"That works just fine for me. See you then."_

As soon as Eliot was done talking to his brother, Faith nudged Nate. "It's getting a little close in here. Wanna take a walk?"

Something of the mask he'd kept so firmly in place slipped slightly, showing her how close to the edge he really was. _Hardison really got to him._ "I shouldn't," he said. "This is going to be huge, tomorrow. We can't afford to make any more mistakes."

Faith looked over at Eliot. "We're gonna go downstairs," she said to the hitter. "See if Cora can't pull together some food for everybody."

She saw Eliot glance at Nate, knew he had the same thoughts she did. "Take your time," he said.

"I told you not to manage me," Nate said, when she looked back at him. There was no heat to his words, however – which spoke volumes.

"I'm not managing you," she countered. "I actually do need a break. Come on." Taking him forcibly by the arm, she led him towards the door to the apartment.

"You know," he said as they reached the door to the stairs, "you're taking a drunk into a bar at the exact moment he's fighting the urge to drink."

Faith paused with her hand on the door knob. "I'm going for a walk with my father," she said, looking him directly in the eyes. "We're going to get food. And that's all."

He stared at her for a long moment, so many emotions playing across his face that Faith couldn't breathe for a second. "You can do this, Nate," she said. Then, acting on pure impulse, she slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him. "We can do this."

His arms tightened around her briefly, and she heard him sigh. "Thank you," he said, pulling back and looking at her. "I fucked up. I know it. If I'd called you right off the bat…"

"You don't know that," she said firmly. "One day at a time, Pops. Deal with what's right in front of us."

Nate laughed shakily. "What's right in front of us is what's scaring the crap out of me right now."

"Really?" Faith shrugged. "Just another day at the office for me."

Eliot looked up as Hardison and Parker came downstairs together. "Food'll be up in a bit."

Hardison nodded. The hacker was unusually subdued. _Vampire really spooked him,_ Eliot thought. It wasn't surprising. Outside of Faith and Eliot, Hardison seemed to have the best grasp of any of them how big a threat the vampires were to all of them.

He started to ask if he was all right, but Sophie beat him to the punch. "Are you going to be able to do this?"

"I'm in," Hardison said. He headed for the couch, sliding his hand under the cushion to retrieve the coms. "I need to change the frequency on these so Zombie-boy can't keep listening in on our conversations. Then I'll tie Faith's back into the network, and bring a new one on line for you." Here he glanced at Parker. "Somebody makes a try for this one, you kick 'em in the nuts, okay? I'm gettin' tired of having to replace them."

Eliot thought that Parker looked slightly guilty, but he couldn't tell if the thief really felt bad, or if she thought that looking like she did might help Hardison feel better.

Either way, once he was focused on his equipment some of the haunted look seemed to leave Hardison's eyes. Eliot nodded approvingly. Action was the best sort of cure for the kind of fear Hardison was struggling with. Working on the coms was something he could do that would have a direct benefit to the team, and give him back at least the illusion of control.

_Control_. It all came down to that, in the end. Each of them, with the possible exception of Faith, were looking obsessively for it – and once they had it, would do anything to hold onto it.

"Penny for your thoughts."

Eliot blinked, seeing that Sophie had come over to stand by him. He shrugged. "Just thinking about tomorrow."

"And how little you want to talk to your brother?"

Eliot smiled bitterly, remembering a stint in ICU not all that long ago, and a morphine-induced ramble where he'd spilled far too much of his feelings about Lindsey into Sophie's patient ears. She'd listened, and she'd tried to understand. _Still understands more than most,_ he was forced to admit.

The problem was that Eliot had never fully understood his own issues with his twin brother. If he didn't understand the problem himself, he would never be able to effectively explain it to someone else.

"You know the really sick thing?" he said finally, glancing at Sophie. "In Lindsey's twisted mind, he's looking out for me with all this mess."

She was predictably outraged. "He terrorizes your family in order to leverage you into something you want to do, and that's somehow his way of looking out for you? Eliot…"

"_Lindsey's_ my family," Eliot said calmly, trying to let her know without words that he wasn't necessarily disagreeing with her. "At least in his mind. Blood is everything to somebody like that." He thought back over his recent interactions with his twin. "He doesn't like what I'm doing now – who I'm becoming. As far as he's concerned, things were better in the old days."

Sophie studied him for a long moment, before asking the only question she could. "What do you think?"

He grinned at her. "I think Lindsey doesn't know nearly as much as he thinks he does."

Nate pointed over Hardison's shoulder at the computer monitor. "The air handler unit that feeds the basement levels is on the southeast corner of the building. There should be an access panel big enough to let you in." He addressed his remarks mostly to Parker. Faith was leaning against the open door of the van, but he couldn't tell if she was listening to him or not.

"Looks a little tight through here," Parker said. Without warning, she reached over and pressed a hand against Faith's stomach. Scowling, Faith swatted her off. "You'll have to suck in."

"Don't worry about me," Faith snapped, crossing her arms over her stomach.

Nate let out a breath he hadn't even been aware he'd been holding. Sending Faith and Parker into a situation together was a bad idea on every level except the most important one: together they had the best combination of skills to make it all work. "Eliot, what's your position?"

_"Two minutes out."_

"All right," Nate said to the assembled members of his team, "let's move. Faith, Parker – you know the drill. Get in, find what you need, and get out. Eliot will keep Lindsey distracted as long as possible."

_"I'll just ask him his opinions on the current political climate,"_ Eliot said. _"That should give us all the time we need."_

Everybody smiled. Parker slipped out of the van and started checking her gear. Sophie settled back in her chair with a sigh, nursing her tea. Hardison went back to monitoring the building's security system.

Nate grabbed Faith's arm before she could follow Parker. "Play nice," he said, as sternly as he could manage.

"Five by five, pops," she said, grinning at him.

_Five by five,_ Parker thought as she and Faith ran the short distance from the van to the southeast corner of the building. _What does that even mean?_

Parker didn't want to be alone in the ventilation system with Faith. She especially didn't want the dark-haired Slayer behind her as they made their way through hundreds of feet of ductwork. Her hand still ached slightly where Faith had smacked it. She had enough up close and personal experience with Slayer strength to understand she was lucky Faith hadn't hit her hard enough to break something – but she didn't understand why Faith had felt the need to hit her in the first place.

_She's just lucky she's Nate's daughter._ Otherwise Parker would have been seriously tempted to send her down a blind alley and leave her there.

Parker had her lock pick already in her hand when they reached the double doors, but Faith stopped her. "Hang on a sec. I want to try something." The Slayer set her shoulder against the stationary door and pushed in slightly. Parker heard a distinct 'schlock' sound – the overhead bolt sliding open. Faith grabbed the doorknob then, and jerked. There was a small screech of metal against metal, and then the two doors swung open together.

"Design flaw," she said, off Parker's confused look. "One of my buddies showed it to me back in the day – I wanted to see if it still held."

_Well that was completely useless,_ Parker thought, as they entered the mechanical room and shut the door behind them. She could have picked the lock in almost the same amount of time, and it would have made far less noise. _Didn't Nate say we were supposed to be stealthy on this one?_

That blind alley was looking better all the time.

Eliot listened to Faith and Parker talking, and wondered if Hardison was taking bets yet on only one of the two of them walking out alive. In a straight up fight, he would back Faith all the way, but ventilation systems were Parker's territory.

He turned his SUV into the Wolfram & Hart parking lot, and pulled up next to the newly installed guard shack. "Morning!" he greeted the security guard on duty. The man came over to his window with the expected clipboard, and Eliot dutifully passed over his ID. "Got a seven a.m. with the big boss," he offered. It was strange not having to con his way in some place for once.

_You've got every right to be here._

The man spent an inordinately long time looking at Eliot's license, but finally he passed it back. "Visitor parking lot's 'round back," he said, gesturing vaguely at the building. "Come in the south entrance – you'll have to show ID again once you're inside. They'll tell you how to get to the executive level."

Eliot took back his wallet and nodded his thanks.

_"We're in."_ Parker was talking again.

_"How long?"_ Nate asked.

There was a short pause, then the thief answered, _"Ten minutes, give or take. Permit drawings aren't always accurate. We might run into some snags."_

_"I'm working on getting a hook into their security feed," _Hardison said, _"but it's going to take me a minute or so."_

_"Eliot, you getting this?"_ Nate asked him.

"Yeah," he said. "Hardison, don't hook into their system until I'm in Lindsey's office. If they catch you before I can distract him, we'll lose the element of surprise."

_"He's not gonna catch me, dammit."_

Before Eliot could argue with the hacker, Nate stepped in. _"Hardison, he's right. No sudden moves until Eliot's in position. Parker, do the best you can."_

Eliot parked and shut the engine off. He sat, listening to the engine tick and trying to push the chatter of the others to the very back of his mind. He really didn't have the right words to describe how little he wanted to do this. Lindsey had already proven he could still push Eliot's buttons – even after five years and two deaths.

Eliot couldn't afford that today – not with Parker and Faith's safety resting directly on his shoulders. He was reasonably sure Faith could get herself out if things went south, but he also couldn't be sure if push came to shove that she would take Parker with her.

He made the thief a silent promise in that moment, that whatever happened, he would make sure she was safe. Eliot wanted to be able to trust Faith with the team's safety, but he knew that would be a long time happening – if ever. In the meantime, he would do his job.

_Whatever it takes._


	9. Intensity

It took just shy of ten minutes for Parker and Faith to reach the basement level of the building. In that time, Faith had to admit that Parker had performed impressively. It hadn't been easy crawling through what felt like miles of ductwork – especially when the diameter of the space had tightened, just as Parker predicted.

Faith kept quiet and kept going, trusting that she could slip through, and that it would be over soon.

"Hold up," Parker said. She was speaking so quietly that Faith heard her over the coms instead of normally.

She held position as instructed, taking the break to marvel at Hardison's technological prowess, and the number of times it would have come in handy in her own line of work. Ahead of her, Parker appeared to be struggling with something. A moment later, the thief started to slip out of sight.

Once she was almost out of view, Faith saw the opening she'd uncovered. There wasn't a lot of light coming through, which was something of a relief. The plan was for them to come out in a locker room, and if it was still dark that meant Faith was right about the likelihood of them crossing paths with anyone.

She followed after Parker as soon as she could, gripping the edge of the grille opening and flipping herself out and to the floor.

"Are they gonna notice the grille being out?" she asked the thief as soon as they were face to face again.

Parker glanced up, and then shrugged. "Probably." Looking back at Faith she asked, "Where to?"

Faith thought about what they'd been able to see of the layout and the likely schedule of any of the Slayers currently calling the place home. She stripped off the long sleeved shirt she'd worn for the climb through the ductwork, revealing a close-fitting tank top. "Check the lockers," she said. "Find a shirt to change into."

She half-expected the thief to start questioning the instructions, but Parker seemed to be perfectly comfortable following Faith's lead. She opened and closed three different lockers, before pulling out a faded pale blue shirt and holding it up for Faith's inspection.

Faith nodded. "Good." They didn't need to make a lot of changes to their appearance – just enough to look more like the sorts of girls that would be living here.

"All right," she said, as Parker changed shirts – stuffing her own shirt in the locker, "say as little as possible, and stick close. If somebody tries to get in your face, push back – shows of strength are pretty common. I'll cover you as best I can, but you're going to have to try and look like you belong here."

_"Faith, are you sure direct confrontation is the way to go?"_ Nate's voice in her head.

"I have to find out if any of them are reachable, Pops," she said. "Parker's safer with me than on her own – especially if we have to take a more direct route out of here."

_"Parker…"_

The thief met Faith's eyes more directly than she ever had before. "I'm good," she said. "Faith'll watch out for me. She promised."

"We gonna do this, or we gonna talk about it?" Faith asked, winking at Parker.

Eliot stepped off the elevator, and was immediately faced with a set of polished wood doors. Magically warded, he noted. Even though he couldn't sense them, he'd worked enough jobs for Wolfram & Hart that he knew how they – and especially Lindsey – worked.

Behind the doors was a high reception desk. A young man in his early twenties was behind it, dressed in an impeccably tailored suit. "Mr. Spencer," he greeted Eliot before the latter could say a word. "He's waiting for you. If you'll follow me?"

Stepping around the furniture, he went immediately to another door. Resisting the urge to run, Eliot followed him through the door and into Lindsey's inner sanctum.

It was everything he expected his brother to have done for himself. The wood was real, the carpet was plush, and the furniture and appointments had clearly been chosen to leave no doubt as to the power being wielded by the owner of this space.

The owner who was even now sitting behind his desk, smiling at Eliot. "On time. Thank you for that."

Eliot glanced around the room. "Guns, Linds?" The comment was as much for the team as for his brother. "Semi-automatics are a bit overkill, don't you think?"

_"Eliot, was that plural?"_ Nate asked.

Before he could figure out a way to slip Nate the information, Lindsey shrugged. "You said you don't trust me. I'd be a fool to let you into my office without some sort of protection." He paused. "They already know not to try and close with you, and they will shoot if you get too close to them."

Eliot chuckled, taking another look at the three hulking figures that surrounded them. Lindsey was probably working an angle, but Eliot suspected that at least part of this move was because he really was worried about what Eliot might try.

And that fact amused him a whole bunch. "Where'd you get these three, anyway?" he asked. "Rent a hulk?"

_"Got it."_

Lindsey gestured at the chair that had been positioned opposite his desk. "Have a seat. Can I get you something to drink? Orange juice?"

"No thanks," Eliot said – dismissing both the invitation to sit and the offer of something to drink. "Let's just get this over with."

It hadn't taken long for Faith and Parker to map the entire basement level. In addition to the locker room, there was a full gymnasium with free weights and machines, a sparring area with workout mats that looked to Faith as if a hundred girls could easily be drilled at once.

She'd started to count the number of beds in the barracks, but Parker beat her to it. "A hundred fifty bunks," she said, keeping her voice low. "Eighty-three filled."

_"Where are the rest of them?"_ Nate asked.

Faith snorted. "That's easy."

The cafeteria held twenty-five girls, scattered at different tables – each in various stages of wakefulness. "They don't have everyone they're after, yet," she muttered, going over the master list of borderline cases in her head. Slayer HQ at last count was tracking closer to two hundred girls that Buffy and company felt could be turned into working for Team Evil.

_"Lindsey's probably allowing for some failures along the way."_

Faith had to admit that it made sense. In her experience, not all the girls could be swayed by the promise of money and power. A lot of them just wanted to be left to their own devices, and were more than likely to tell anyone who came knocking from Wolfram & Hart to pound sand.

"Here goes nothing."

As she was pushing open the door, she heard Nate say, _"No chances, Faith. Remember one of those empty beds likely has your name on it."_

She'd been holding off thinking about that as long as possible. Wolfram & Hart had tried to recruit her before. This entire scheme was merely a larger version of the plan Lindsey had been involved with years earlier. _More resources to draw from._

Faith walked to one end of the serving line and grabbed a tray. Parker immediately followed suit. _I should have killed him when I had the chance,_ she thought – guilt starting to close in. _Or hurt him so bad he'd think twice about pulling this shit again._

She hadn't known at the time that Lindsey would prove to be the long-term threat. _Not that you would have cared. _ The lawyer she'd maimed hadn't been so much a threat as an annoyance, and Faith had enjoyed putting him out of commission a little too much.

_Banana…oatmeal…egg and sausage sandwich… _ Faith glanced down and saw that Parker's idea of breakfast consisted of sugared cereal and a donut. _Which of us looks more like they fit in?_ she thought – feeling suddenly a lot older than her chronological age.

Scanning the room, she picked out a likely looking girl sitting alone at a table near the wall. "Hey," she said, nodding a greeting to the girl. "Mind if we join you?"

The girl shrugged. "Free country." She was slender and tired looking – body language closed down and defensive.

Faith slid onto the bench across from the girl. Parker slipped in beside her. "I'm Tammy," she said. She jerked her head in Parker's direction. "This is Parker. We got in last night."

"Mary," the girl said. "You meet the big guy yet?"

Faith flashed back on the memory of her experiences with Lindsey McDonald. "We've met, yeah. Interesting dude."

That seemed to amuse Mary. "Intense is the word you're looking for."

* * *

Lindsey sighed. There was something to be said for the power play of making somebody stand while he sat, but not when it was Eliot. "You're being ridiculous, you know."

His brother smiled. "Wouldn't be the first time. You got me here, Lindsey. Time to let me know why you're not wasting my time."

"You're suddenly too good for all of this?" Lindsey asked. His smart phone chimed for his attention, and he glanced quickly at the screen. It was a message from IT, letting him know that Alec Hardison was trying to hook into the building's security system.

Glancing at Eliot, he said, "Give me a sec." Snatching up the phone, he dashed off a quick message to let them allow the hacker to finish his work. _Nothing for him to exploit._ Letting him see the workings of their physical security system was an acceptable risk.

"Sorry," he said, setting the phone down again. "Boss stuff." He leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers dramatically. "So. You wanted to know why I'm not wasting your time?"

Eliot smiled, but there was no warmth to it. "That's what I said."

"We want you to come on board long-term," Lindsey said, remembering his conversations with the VP of Special Projects in Los Angeles. "The Senior Partners believe you are the only person who can do this for us, and they're willing to set you up for life once it's done."

Lindsey realized he was half-expecting this new version of his brother to dismiss the idea of financial security – even though that had been one of Eliot's driving motivations in their youth. "You have my terms," was all he said, however.

_His jolly band of misfits again._ Lindsey was reaching the limits of his patience where the great Nathan Ford and his influence on Eliot were concerned. "You'll do this if I guarantee their safety?"

His brother shrugged. "Plus our usual terms. I notice you're not exactly full of details on this super-important, long-term assignment."

_Not for lack of trying,_ Lindsey thought – remembering how he'd been stonewalled when he'd asked the VP to elaborate on the assignment. _Get his cooperation first._ "I've been told it wouldn't be in the firm's best interest to let you know too much up front." It was the one thing that bothered him about the whole business. "I'll offer you our usual terms, however," he added. "Sign on, and I'll watch your back. You won't have to take a step you're not comfortable with."

If Eliot had laughed at the offer, Lindsey couldn't have been responsible for his actions. _Come on,_ he thought. _This is smart. It's easy. And we can work together again._ He missed having Eliot in his life – more than he would have ever admitted to anyone. More than his presence, he missed being _needed_ by his brother.

His intercom beeped for his attention. Annoyed at the interruption, he jabbed the button with a finger. "Is it an executive VP or higher?"

"No…no…" his assistant stammered. "But…sir…"

"It can wait," Lindsey snapped, cutting off the communication. Taking a moment to compose himself, he looked back at Eliot. "I can't guarantee their safety in perpetuity," he said, trying to pick up the conversation where they'd left off. "You wouldn't believe me if I said I could."

"True," Eliot said.

"I can," Lindsey said, "offer you something that will clean up another mess in your lives, however." He paused, partly for dramatic effect, but also so he could be sure of having Eliot's full attention.

"Damian Moreau."

Lindsey knew there were only a handful of things he could have said that would have broken Eliot's poker face so completely. Luckily for him, it was a genuine offer. Moreau was a long-term, valued client of Wolfram & Hart, but whatever job the Senior Partners wanted Eliot for – it was important enough that Lindsey had been authorized to use Moreau as a bargaining chip.

Before Eliot could recover enough to call Lindsey a liar, the door to the office opened, and Lindsey's administrative assistant burst into the office. "Sir, I'm sorry. This really is important."

Lindsey had come to his feet, ready to order the man shot on sight – but one look at the fear in his eyes stopped him. Making sure everyone in the room knew how unhappy he was, Lindsey beckoned him over.

Eyeing Eliot nervously, the man crossed the room and leaned in close to Lindsey's shoulder. "They found Peters," his murmured. "He's been in a coma for the past three days – she dropped him at the hospital with no identification."

_Dammit_, Lindsey thought. He'd spent too much time trying to track down Peters in order to pinpoint Faith's location. _Which meant…_

He glanced at Eliot. "Faith's in Boston, isn't she?" His eyes widened as a sudden flash of insight hit him. Lindsey couldn't say how he knew – Eliot's expression hadn't changed at all – but staring at his twin, he suddenly knew with absolute certainty precisely where the dark-haired Slayer was.

Keeping his eyes on Eliot, Lindsey picked up the phone again and pressed the hot-key for his head of security. "Lock down the barracks. I want an immediate head count of all the girls – if you come up with any extras, shoot to kill."

_That_ got Eliot's attention. Lindsey hung up the phone, never taking his eyes off his brother. "You better hope your people are fast enough and smart enough to stay out of their way."

"You promised if I came in…" Eliot began, but his voice trailed off.

Lindsey laughed. "You know that was only good until you tried to double cross me. All bets are off now."


	10. What we need

_"Faith…Parker…you get that?"_ Nate's voice in his head, quieting the rage that was threatening to rise up and consume Eliot. He exhaled softly, willing himself calm. The girls were warned. Nate wouldn't rest until they were clear of the building. Eliot needed to focus on his own situation, and figure out how to turn things to the team's advantage.

_"We got it,"_ Faith said. _ "Don't worry – we'll keep out of their way. Hardison, can you find me a way up to Lindsey's office?"_

_No! _ Eliot felt the muscles along his jaw tighten, but he kept quiet – trusting Nate to do the strategically sound thing and get the girls out. That hope was dashed mere moments later.

_"Y'all are gonna have to get back in the ventilation system,"_ Hardison said.

_"Faith,"_ Nate added, _"follow Parker through the system, and then you take the lead getting into Lindsey's office. Do not – I repeat – do not put her in the line of fire under any circumstances."_

_"Got it, Pops."_

_"Eliot,"_ Nate said. "_Be ready to move. We're on our way."_

Eliot was touched by the determination in Nate's voice not to leave him behind. He could count on one hand the number of times the mastermind had made a purely emotional move that hadn't been entirely self-destructive. On the other hand, he couldn't let the team risk themselves without knowing exactly what they were up against.

"How long have you been watching Hardison?" he asked out loud.

_"Faith…Parker… "_ That was Nate. _"Stay low and hold position."_

Lindsey studied Eliot for a long moment. Then he smiled. "Since the beginning. Alec Hardison has been monitored from the second he first hacked into the Wolfram and Hart servers. He hasn't seen anything I didn't want him to see."

_"Wanna bet Zombie-boy?"_ Eliot almost smiled at Hardison's quip, but controlled himself at the last second. _Wonder if you know how bad you just pissed Hardison off? _ The hacker was…disturbingly inventive…when his skills were challenged or subverted.

"Can they hear me?" Lindsey asked, drawing Eliot's attention fully back to the room he was standing in, and the guns that surrounded him.

Eliot thought about playing dumb, and then decided against it. Folding his arms across his chest defensively, he nodded.

Lindsey smiled, sliding open a drawer in his desk. "Good."

Eliot had a flash of heart-stopping panic, where he wondered if his twin was actually going to shoot him. The taser he pulled out was a perverse relief, then, a half-second before Lindsey fired and the two leads attached themselves to Eliot's chest.

He heard Hardison swearing, and Nate and Faith arguing, but it all faded against the backdrop of the electricity lighting up his entire nervous system. He dropped immediately to the carpet, body thrashing and stuttering as his muscles convulsed uncontrollably.

It wasn't the first time Eliot had been hit with a taser – not by a long shot. He forced himself not to fight the effects, breathing through the pain as best he could. The only thing he would not do was lose consciousness. Eliot had never been in a situation in his life where passing out led to anything good.

After what seemed like an eternity, the flow of electricity dancing through his body was cut off. A moment later, Lindsey stood over him. "I'm done screwing around." Planting a foot against Eliot's shoulder, he shoved him over onto his back. Eliot couldn't entirely suppress the cry of pain that slipped out at the forced movement.

"You're going into a cell to cool off, while I deal with my other project. After I convince your girlfriend to take the deal I've got for her, you and I are going to work on straightening out your fucked up priorities."

* * *

Faith had barely resisted yanking the com unit out of her ear when the burst of feedback had washed through the network. As it was, her head was still buzzing slightly from the hit. A quick glance at Parker told her the thief wasn't in much better shape. "Hardison, what's going on?" she hissed.

_"I'm guessing taser,"_ the hacker said. _"I cut Eliot's com out of the network – no telling if it's even still working if it got hit by that much concentrated electricity."_

"Have they really been watching you?" Parker asked. Faith suppressed a burst of irritation; it was a valid question, it just wasn't the one uppermost in her mind right now.

_"It's not impossible,"_ Hardison admitted, _"but there's only so much of that sort of thing they can do. Now that I know they were thinking it, I'm adjusting to account for it."_

"We're going after him, Nate," Faith said. "There's bad shit going down here, and I'm not leaving him in the middle of it."

_"According to Eliot's intel, you've got at least three men with high powered semi-automatics in that room,"_ her father said. _"Not to mention whatever else Lindsey might have up his sleeve."_ There was a pause, and Faith could sense Nate struggling with what he was about to say. _"I don't want to leave him either, but we need to be smart about this."_

_Another lifetime…grabbing a young lawyer by the back of the neck…rush of power as she slammed his face repeatedly into the polished surface of the heavy desk._ "No," Faith said as the memory washed over her. _Lindsey's eyes watching her – stain of fear on his soul…_

"We don't need to be smart," she continued. "We need to be crazy." Her behavior so many years ago had marked Lindsey McDonald, Faith was sure of it. No matter what he might know about her reform, his default reaction was always going to be the younger version of himself who'd watched her maim one of his colleagues without flinching.

_"Faith…"_ Nate began. Shaking her head, Faith spoke over him.

"Sophie – if you saw somebody attacked, saw them beaten almost to death, how would you react if the person who attacked them suddenly showed up on your doorstep?"

The grifter didn't hesitate. _"I'd be terrified."_

"Even if it's been ten years or more, and you've heard this person is playing for the good guys now?"

_"Faith, no,"_ Nate said. _"You and Parker get out of there!"_

But Sophie had spoken at almost exactly the same moment. _"Especially if I'd heard they were playing for the good guys now."_

That was all Faith needed to hear. "Hardison, get us a way in that office."


	11. Countdown

Nate glared across the van at Sophie, fighting down feelings of betrayal. She was the first to say that he took unnecessary risks with the team's safety, but when it was Faith…

"Unh-uh," Hardison snapped, holding up a finger before Nate could say anything. "Y'all take it outside. I've got work to do in here."

_Can you let this go?_ Nate looked across at Sophie again. Rage battled his common sense, until he felt like the walls of the van were starting to close in on him. Turning, he opened the rear door and went to step out.

"I'm cutting you two off until you can play nice," Hardison called, as Nate stepped clear and waited for Sophie to follow.

"Fine," he said. "This won't take long." He closed the door.

Sophie was glaring right back at him when he finally turned to face her. "You're not going to try and tell me you were thinking clearly," she said. "If anyone else but Faith proposed going in there, you would have been all for it!"

"And if it had been anyone else but my daughter, you would have been on my case for taking reckless chances!" As soon as the words left his mouth, Nate knew he'd tipped his hand.

Predictably, Sophie jumped on it. "Your daughter. My point exactly. Nate, you wouldn't be human if you weren't worried about her safety, but you're so paranoid about losing another child that you're forgetting she can do this!"

Her expression softened. "She's Eliot's best chance. You know this."

"She's not bullet proof, Sophie," he countered, feeling the weight of truth closing in around his heart. "And she's got Parker with her. I was willing to risk it if Eliot could help – he'll make sure Parker gets out in one piece."

He felt like a traitor saying it, but it was the truth. "I can't trust Faith will do the same."

* * *

_"Wait."_

Faith skidded to a stop, holding out an arm to block Parker's advance. "What's up?" she asked, touching her ear reflexively.

_"Zombie-boy made a call. Looks like they're moving Eliot to a cell somewhere."_

_In transit would be an easier grab. _ Faith exchanged a look with Parker. "Can you see them?"

_"I've got the cameras outside Lindsey's office, so I can tell you when they head for the elevators. Oh, and to make this even more fun, I just sent Nate and Sophie into time out."_

Faith's eyes widened, and she prayed she'd heard the hacker wrong. "Now? Get them back!" Sending away their master strategist now was nothing short of suicide.

Parker grabbed her arm, shaking her head. "No. It's good." The thief's eyes shifted off Faith. "Hardison, can you get the elevators?"

Faith heard the faint clattering sound of keys. _"Got one stopping for you in five."_

"He means seconds," Parker told her. "Come on!"

Impressed in spite of herself, Faith followed the slender thief back down the hallway they'd just come through. They rounded the corner just as the center elevator in the bank opened up.

_"All right,"_ Hardison said, as they entered the car and the doors slid shut again, _"Eliot's on the move. I'm taking you straight up to the executive floor, so you've got about a minute to get into position."_

Parker jerked her head at Faith. "Give me a boost." She glanced up at the access hatch in the ceiling.

_All right indeed,_ Faith thought, dropping into a crouch so that Parker could perch on her shoulders. She was still slightly stunned at how smoothly Parker and Hardison had stepped in and taken charge of things, but as long as it worked she was hardly going to question it. The important thing was that they got Eliot out safely. Faith really didn't give a damn about how they pulled it off.

Parker opened the hatch and pulled herself through. She immediately reached back through the opening, extending her arm towards Faith. Faith thought about waving her back – it was an easy jump for her – but decided in the end not to overlook the gesture Parker was making. Reaching up to grab the thief's wrist, she allowed herself to be pulled through the hatch, onto the roof of the moving cab.

"How many guards with him?" she asked, trusting that the coms would pick up her voice over the rush of air that filled the shaft around them.

_"Three. They don't have their weapons out, so it'll hopefully be an easy grab. Eliot's stumbling, but he's conscious."_

Faith sighed with relief, feeling some of the tension drain out of her. "You stay up here," she said to Parker. "Nate said to keep you out of the line of fire, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

She was amused to see Parker look outraged. "I might not be a superhero, but I can fight, you know. And Eliot's my teammate, not yours."

"Parker, it's a small enclosed space. I can take three guys without breaking a sweat, but I'm going to need you to pull Eliot up here. He may be walking, but we don't know what kind of shape he's in – not really."

_"She's right, Parker."_

Faith smiled, hearing Nate's voice over the coms again. "Welcome back, Pops. You and Sophie get things worked out?"

_"As much as we ever do,"_ the grifter sighed.

_"You're coming up on the executive level,"_ Nate told them. _"Faith, you'll go on my mark."_

The car shuddered to a stop. Faith swayed slightly, but managed to maintain her balance. Parker – she was amused to note – looked completely unfazed.

It took almost a full minute, then the car started moving again – this time back down the way they came. _"Three,"_ Nate said. Faith put her hand on the lever to open the hatch.

_"Two."_ Faith cranked the handle, and felt the hatch start to give way.

_"One."_

She swung open the small, square door, and dropped through.

* * *

"It's like we set loose a pissed off wildcat," Sophie observed. They were watching the hijacked security feed, transfixed as Faith beat the three security guards into submission.

"Or a firecracker," Nate said, smiling slightly. Eliot was on his feet, pressed into a corner of the elevator cab. He looked to Nate as though he wanted to help, but his hands were cuffed behind his back, and he was still very clearly rattled from the taser hit.

Parker leaned down through the access panel. _"Come on!"_ she shouted at Eliot. She started to extend her hand to him, then faltered. There was no way Eliot could reach her.

_"Faith!"_ the hitter yelled, trying to break through the Slayer's battle frenzy. _"Find the damn keys!"_

Nate put a hand on Hardison's shoulder. "Can you express them to the ground floor?"

The hacker nodded, tapping several keys. Nate straightened up. "Listen up, people – you're going out the front door."

"Nate, are you sure?" Sophie asked. On the monitor, Faith had found the handcuff keys, and was in the process of releasing Eliot.

He nodded at Sophie. "Faith, you clear the path. Eliot, can you back her up?"

Faith relayed the message, and the hitter nodded, obviously realizing his com was off line.

"Good," Nate said. "Hardison's going to set off the fire alarm as soon as you reach the ground floor. Between that and the fact that it should be mostly civilians in the lobby, you should be able to punch your way out."

Parker leaped down into the elevator cab. Eliot grabbed Faith's shoulder, and leaned in to her com-side ear. _"As soon as Hardison sets off the alarm, you guys clear out,"_ he said. _"We'll get to my car and meet you back at the apartment."_

Nate wanted to protest, with every fiber of his being, but he couldn't ignore the logic. "Faith," he said, "tell him that's the plan."

"Fire alarm in three…two…one…" Hardison said.


	12. Triumph

They all winced, as the noise assaulted their ears. A moment later, the elevator shivered to a stop, and the doors slid open.

Faith was out immediately, Parker hard on her heels. Eliot exhaled sharply, preparing to run, when he heard a howl of outrage from Parker.

As soon as he cleared the elevator, Eliot saw what had happened – and his heart sank. Lindsey had beat them to the ground floor, and he now had Parker in a complicated hold that Eliot remembered teaching him years before. The thief wanted to struggle, but every time she did it was clearly causing her pain.

"Parker, stop!" he yelled, sharp enough to get her attention. "Don't move!"

"That's right, Parker," Lindsey echoed, his face pressed so close to her cheek Eliot felt physically ill. "Don't move."

"Let her go, Linds," Eliot said. "This isn't about her."

"You're right," Lindsey said. "It's not about her. It's about you." He glanced to one side. Faith had come back as soon as she knew something wasn't right. "And you. Hello, Faith."

She nodded. "Lindsey. You should have called, instead of putting a tail on me. Then I could have told you to fuck off days ago."

"Unfortunately I don't have the option of you saying no," Lindsey countered. "Eliot's different." His eyes met Eliot's. "I've been assured that they want your voluntary cooperation."

"You've got a very fluid idea of voluntary," Eliot said. His heart skipped a beat, as he realized that Faith was muttering under her breath every time Lindsey's attention was diverted. "I've told you what'll happen if you hurt them." He saw comprehension in Parker's eyes, and braced for whatever the girls were planning.

"Yeah, I know," Lindsey said. "You've told me. Over and over. Your…"

He never got to finish his sentence, because Parker chose that moment to twist in an almost inhuman way – perfectly executing the one move designed to counter the hold Lindsey had put her in. Since it wasn't something he'd ever taught her, it had to have been Faith talking her through it, using the coms.

Parker ran immediately to Faith. Eliot thought for a half-second about going after Lindsey; brother or no, they'd just escalated things badly enough that his twin was going to retaliate big.

He was still trying to throw off the last effects of the taser hit, however – and orders from Nate had been very clear.

Besides…he had the keys to the SUV in his pocket.

* * *

There was an air of celebration in McRory's that night, and it was all because of the team.

They'd survived. They'd spit in Wolfram and Hart's eye twice so far, and come out alive and together to tell about it. Maybe it wasn't the brightest move in the world, but it had been more or less agreed that a party was in order.

And it probably hadn't been the best move in the world to hold it down in the bar itself. Cora always looked out for the team, checking the pub for bad elements and clients alike, but even she could only do so much.

Even so, they didn't care. They hadn't won, but they'd scraped a few victories and against their current opponent even that was enough. They were due a party back in the world.

They ordered drinks, alcoholic and non, and got their own table. They told stories. They told jokes, or tried to. Eliot rolled his eyes at Hardison and Parker's usual goings-on, and carefully ignored everyone's evident concern over his recent encounter with the Taser. Faith and Parker shared a high five and a toast over a job gone right, while Hardison kept glancing at his laptop every few seconds and regaled Sophie with his theories as to what would happen in the upcoming season finale of Doctor Who. Sophie talked excitedly over her latest acting job, the role of Helena in _A Midsummer Night's Dream, _even though she'd been forced to miss the last audition thanks to Wolfram and Hart.

And Nate…watched. He spoke whenever he was spoken to, drifting to and fro between the various groups and stories. But mostly he listened, soaking in the celebration and the happiness and the heady feeling of control. This was twice that he and his team had spit on Wolfram and Hart's eye, and they were all alive and all together to celebrate about it.

"We did good today, Pops," said Faith, sitting on the bar stool beside him, taking a quick break from listening to Parker's rants and rambles about one of her jobs overseas.

"We did," Nate agreed.

"Gotta say, when I first met you and your crew, I thought you were pretty much amateur hour. But seeing 'em in action today…" Faith shook her head and smiled. "You guys really know your stuff."

"I'm glad we meet with your approval." He paused, sobering slightly. "You know this isn't the end of it."

Faith shook her head, not in the least miffed at Nate's reminder of the seriousness of the situation. "Hell, no. I've had my run-ins with Old McDonald before, and he's not the giving up kinda guy. I had to check myself into maximum security just to give him the slip last time. Nah, he'll be back, with twice the firepower." She grinned at him. "But not tonight."

"You're sure about that?" Nate didn't want to ask – didn't want to question – but he had to.

"Not a bit," replied Faith, without missing a beat. "But I figure, we're out in public, it's crowded, we're all together, and even Wolfram & Hart's gonna need time to armor up and think of a Plan Q. We should be safe enough until tomorrow."

Nate nodded. If that was Faith's assessment, and if Eliot didn't seem too stressed over their current situation, he supposed he could afford to relax.

"Cheer up already," Faith ordered. She raised her glass, which in deference to him tonight was half full of root beer. "Health to the company."

Nate clinked his mug of coffee against hers'. "Slainte'," he said, taking a sip.

And so the night might have passed, if not for Cora.

"Ah, Nate?" she asked, catching his eye from behind the bar. "I don't mean to bother you, but there's this woman…"

Nate looked up at her. "A client?"

"Or somethin' else?" asked Faith carefully.

Cora shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, I've never seen her before, but she doesn't look up to much. And she says she needs your help, Mr. Ford. And I think she might. She doesn't look so good."

She pointed. Nate and Faith followed her gaze, to the group's usual booth against the opposite wall. A woman sat there, staring back expectantly.

Cora was right – she didn't look up to much. She was deathly pale, swaying slightly where she sat. Her eyes were half closed, and her eyelids flickered occasionally. She looked as though she'd been attacked recently, mugged or worse.

_She has to be a client_, Nate decided. _Wolfram and Hart may be all for stealth, but this for them would be just ridiculous. _

"Right, Cora. Thanks. I'll handle it," was what he said out loud. He got off his stool, picked up his glass, and started towards the woman. He paused when Faith laid a hand on his arm, and looked back. "Hm?"

The first thing he noticed was that Faith looked…spooked. That was the only word for it. She was staring fixedly at the pale woman, looking as concerned as Nate had ever seen her. "Faith," he prompted, a little louder.

This time, he managed to pull Faith out of her reverie. "'S nothing," she said, shaking her head. "Just…just a wiggins, that's all. 'm overtired."

"I understand," said Nate, smiling sympathetically. "Believe me." He glanced at the rest of the team. "There's no shame in calling it an early night, you know."

Faith snorted. "With them? Yeah, matter of fact it is." Then she smiled tiredly. "Fight the good fight, Pops. Shoo."

Nate nodded, and made his way over to the booth.

He was close enough to raise his voice and speak to her – "Miss, can I help you?" – when she got to her feet. Acting as though she hadn't heard him at all, she began to move dreamily towards the front door. Nate watched her with some concern. She might have been sleepwalking, the way she moved. He suddenly realized that he couldn't let her back out onto the streets, not in her condition. He hurried after her. "Miss, wait a moment!"

The bell over the door chimed as the woman opened the door and slipped outside. Forgetting himself, forgetting the danger, forgetting that Faith had gotten to chatting with Eliot and wouldn't notice that he'd gone until he returned, Nate followed. He wondered whether or not she'd seen something in the bar itself, something threatening, some danger they had missed. Maybe the floor of McRory's wasn't safe tonight. Even without Wolfram and Hart, there were still dangers in the world and his team had made too many enemies.

All this went through his mind in a cold, calculating blur, and then the woman turned.

All Nate saw, all he remembered, was the sight of her raising two fingers, pointing at him. Staring at him. And her eyes, her dark endless eyes that seemed to be all there was in the world.

"Be in my eyes. Be in me."


	13. Mad with Anticipation

Faith cut her eyes towards the now-empty booth again, unable to shake the creeping cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. Nate and the strange, sickly looking woman had been gone for a while now, but even Eliot had been quick to point out that the bar was exceptionally noisy tonight.

_They're just in the poker room,_ she repeated to herself, taking another pull off her root beer and pretending to listen to what Eliot was saying.

The hitter wasn't fooled for a second. "You want to go check on him?"

"Faith," Sophie said, "I'm sure he's fine. If the woman was as weak as you say, it's probably taking a bit to get her story." She smiled reassuringly. "He'll be back in a minute."

"Unless she was a vampire or something," Parker said. "And she put him under some sort of whammy." Faith flinched; the thief's brutally frank assessment hit a little too close to a possible source of her discomfort.

"That's not funny, Parker," Sophie chided.

"Yeah," Hardison added. "Besides – vampires can't come in a place unless they're invited."

_The same woman, standing straight and proud in Faith's memory, pointing two fingers at a girl Faith had never met – a girl whose death had changed Faith's life forever._

_"Be in my eyes. Be in me."_

"It's a public place," she forced herself to say. Blood fountained behind her eyes, along with memory of the fire burning through her gut as she came into her powers. "No invite necessary."

"Faith..?"

Half-blind with panic now, Faith threw off the hand that had grabbed her arm – shoving back from the table. _No… _ Voices of the team and the surrounding patrons blended into a white noise behind her as she ran for the poker room, praying she wouldn't be too late.

Eliot was the first one out of his chair following Faith through the crowd, but the rest of the team was hot on his heels. They hadn't known her that long, and they really didn't know her that well – although they each, in their own way, had been trying to change that. One thing they all knew without question was that she cared about Nate as much as they did.

Maybe she was just being paranoid. She was wary of the world in general by nature – it was understandable with the life she'd lived and the things she'd seen.

When things went really bad, it made sense that Faith would be the first to know.

So when she bolted from the table, they ran after her – not thinking twice about it. Faith hunted vampires like it was the easiest thing in the world. Anything that scared her was a good enough reason to panic as far as the rest of them were concerned.

"Coms!" Hardison gasped as they threaded their way around the bar's other patrons. Eliot stopped long enough to pull his out and fit it in place, and then made sure that Parker, Sophie and Hardison were all in front of him before he started moving again. Faith was in the lead – it was no longer a case of putting the other three closer to danger; it was a fear of what could happen to anyone Eliot couldn't see.

Faith was already inside when they entered McRory's back room, staring at the emptiness. There was no sign of the pale woman. _No sign of Nate._ The chairs hadn't even been pulled back from the table. _We've been tricked,_ Eliot thought, barely resisting the urge to smash his fist into something.

They _had_ been tricked, and it was far too late to do anything about it.

* * *

_He sent her after my father. After __**my**__ fucking father._

Faith looked around at the faces of Nate's crew, each of them alternately stunned, frightened and angry, until she locked eyes with Eliot. "When I get my hands on that brother of yours, there isn't going to be enough left to resurrect." The rage she normally worked so hard to keep at bay was everywhere now – blotting out the fear and leaving only cold determination in its wake.

_Kill them…punish them…he's gone too far this time…no going back…_

"He won't kill him," Eliot said quickly. Of all of them, he seemed to have the best read on where her head was at. "He's just trying to regain the upper hand. Lindsey's not stupid enough to risk killing or turning Nate, Faith – he knows what we'd do."

_Don't care…don't care…_ There was going to be violence before the night was over – Faith could almost smell it in the wind.

"He was very careful with Hardison and me," Parker added. "Once he had us, the vampires weren't allowed close enough to hurt us."

"You don't get it!" Faith yelled, slamming her fist into a nearby table. "Drusilla is not a normal vampire! If Lindsey thinks he's got her under his control, he's kidding himself!"

Eliot took a step towards her. "We'll get him back, Faith, but we've got to be smart about this. Work it through."

Faith glared at the hitter, completely unable in that moment to access any of her feelings for him. "You work it through. I'm going to get my father back from that crazy bitch."

She was ready for Eliot to try and stop her as she strode towards the back door. She wasn't ready for Hardison getting to her first and grabbing her by the shoulder. "Hang on a second, dammit!" he said. "You can't just…"

Faith whipped around. Her fist connected solidly with his jaw – harder than she would have struck if she'd realized it was him. The hacker let her go immediately, stumbling back a few steps before dropping to the ground. Her reaction time slowed by the unexpected change in targets, Faith had less than a fraction of a second to respond before Eliot closed with her.

She ducked under what she thought was going to be a swing at her head, but Eliot was ready for the dodge. Chairs and tables scattered as he grabbed her wrist and swept her up in a tight hold against his chest. Before she could deconstruct what he'd done and slip free, Eliot took them both to the floor – using his legs to leverage her into a position where she couldn't move.

"Ease down!" he growled into her ear, jerking her more tightly against him when she tried to struggle free. "Faith! Stop!"

With a roar of frustration, Faith gave up trying to slip free of Eliot's hold and gathered her strength to try and power free of him. Pain flamed almost immediately across her shoulders – her body warning her of immediate injury if she kept on that course of action.

He had her. He'd been smarter than she'd expected, relying on leverage and strategically applied pressure against her superior strength. Every move Faith could come up with to counter him would almost certainly result in a crippling injury.

"You're no good to Nate if I break both your arms," Eliot said, confirming what she'd already figured out. "Control yourself!"

He would do it too – even this deep in the grip of her madness, Faith never once doubted Eliot was completely serious. He would take her out of the game entirely in order to keep her from giving in to her worst impulses, and becoming something none of them could accept in their midst any longer.

A very large part of her wanted to push the point – to make him live up to the promise in his words. Anything to keep from having to face how scared she was that Nate was gone – and how even if they found him, the odds were he wouldn't ever be the same again.

Faith drew a deep, steadying breath, trying to do what Eliot wanted, and put the leash back on her rage. "All right," she said, the sound muffled against the wood floor. "All right."

She felt him relax a little, but the moment had passed where she might have tried to exploit it. He was right – going all Dirty Harriet on the situation would make her feel better, but in the end it wouldn't help get her father back. "You good?" Eliot asked.

Faith waited a few beats, trying to figure out an honest answer instead of an easy one. Finally, she nodded. Her mind had cleared enough that she felt more in control of herself than not. _You can be around people again…_

She'd thought Eliot would let her go immediately – time was of the essence, especially if they were going to come at this sensibly. Instead, he pressed his face even closer to her, pitching his voice so low Faith knew she was the only one who could hear him.

"Before I let you up," he said, "I want you to understand something very clearly. This was your free pass. You ever lose control like that on any of them again, and I will put you in the ground. No matter how I might feel about you, I will bury you and walk away with a very clear conscience."


	14. Play Nice

They immediately retreated upstairs. Nate's loft was the one even remotely safe place in all the world for them now. They had their tech, they had the tools of their trade – and most importantly, they had each other to rely on.

_Home field advantage._

"We wait for contact," Eliot said flatly, as they all grabbed seats. "We hear their terms. And, if it means getting Nate back safe, we agree to those terms." He was the Retrieval Specialist now – the one who bargained with the dregs of humanity to get back what shouldn't have been lost in the first place.

Eliot glanced at Faith and saw the truth of the situation mirrored in her eyes. They each knew what was going to happen – what the price of Nate's safe return was likely to be.

Faith obviously cared as little as Eliot did. For Nate they would pay it, and gladly.

All they had to do now was wait.

"W-Was it a vampire?" Parker asked hesitantly, looking at Faith. She was sitting on the couch next to Hardison, twisting her fingers in her lap.

Faith suddenly looked miserable. "Yep. Really bad one too."

"You called her Drusilla," Sophie said. "Is she something you've faced before?"

Eliot studied Faith's body language. He'd assumed when she flipped out that it was entirely about Nate, but watching her now he was ready to reconsider that. _Pain…lots of pain._ Faith was hugging her arms tight across her chest, pulling back from the others. _There's history there._

He was surprised, therefore, when she shook her head. "Not me. I've been lucky. Bitch is all kinds of nasty crazy."

_Great,_ Eliot thought, wishing Faith had been a little less forthcoming with her information.

"We've fought vampires before," Parker insisted. "I mean, I know it was dangerous, but Eliot's not half dead now and we have you. How hard could this one be?"

Hardison saved Faith or Eliot the trouble of replying when he shook his head. "We make a move before they give us the go ahead, and who knows what they'll do to him."

"I don't _care_," growled Sophie. Then, when the others stared at her in shock, she sighed. "I do. You know that. But this is the third goddamned time that they've screwed with us, and we can't just let this lie!"

Eliot tried to soothe her. "We won't. They'll get theirs'. But not until we have Nate back."

Sophie glared back him. Eliot realized with an uncomfortable jolt in his stomach that she had reached the same conclusion he and Faith had, and she was much less willing to accept the verdict.

"We can't let them take anything else from us," she said. "We can't let them get away with this. If we do, then what is the _point _of us? Why do we do this?"

Dead silence followed her words, because there was nothing any of them could say. She was right – Nate himself had once argued the very same point.

If they let the bad guys walk just because it was easier, then what did that make them? What use were they? If they just took down the easy bad guys, all that did was make room for the big ones to move in.

Eliot was the one who finally answered. "We're the good guys. Like Nate always says – we pick up where the law leaves off." He glanced at Faith and swallowed uncomfortably. "We're champions. And people need us. But if we go up against them now, Wolfram & Hart will annihilate us – and all those people we're meant to save have to manage without us. Without Nate…"

_Without Nate, we're not a team. _ It was cold fact that a team needed a leader, and here there could be no other leader than Nathan Ford.

Sophie opened her mouth – maybe to agree with him, maybe to argue with him. Eliot would never know, because, at that moment, a familiar voice sounded over the coms.

_"If you're all quite finished…"_

As one, they froze. The voice was obviously Lindsey's, and since Hardison hadn't had a chance to tweak the frequencies again, the com he was using could only have belonged to Nate.

Eliot held up a hand, forestalling anyone else from replying – then put a finger to his lips, just to be sure. They were in his territory now – making deals with hostile parties was a specialty of his.

_Even when the hostile party was his own brother._

Inwardly, he was reviewing the time line – trying to determine how much Lindsey would have been able to hear before revealing himself. _Too much,_ he decided. They'd do the dance, but they'd already as much as told Lindsey outright that the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

"Are you prepared to deal?" he asked, keeping his voice steady – trying to smooth out even the slightest inflection that might give Lindsey a clue as to what he was thinking or feeling.

_"I am. My demands have not changed. You and Faith for your precious leader."_

"I want proof of life." It was the standard opening demand of any hostage negotiations. Without it, no proper deals could be made.

_"Of course. Hardison, would you mind booting up your laptop?"_

Eliot tried not to grind his teeth loud enough for the coms to register. "You talk to _me_," he growled, although Hardison immediately moved to do as he had been bidden.

_"You want proof of life. I'm giving you proof of life. I'd like Hardison's laptop up and running to be able to do that."_

Hardison glanced up at Eliot nervously, and gave him a brief thumbs-up – tilting the screen so that Eliot could see the operating system was running.

"All right," Eliot said. "We're online. Proof of life, Lindsey – now."

_"Keep your pants on."_

A notification popped up on the screen of Hardison's laptop – an invitation to web chat, sent by "Lindsey M." Eliot motioned Hardison away from the laptop, and took his place. The others tried to gather around, but he waved them away as well. Silence was a good start to things, a good way to deprive Lindsey of further leverage, but Eliot knew that facial cues could be as good as words. They couldn't afford to give up any more of an advantage to Lindsey than they already had.

Once he was absolutely certain that everyone was out of sight of the laptop's webcam, Eliot accepted the invitation. The program took a few seconds to initiate. Once it had, a window opened and Lindsey appeared on screen.

He smiled sarcastically, gave Eliot a quick, two-fingered wave, and then slowly turned the monitor until Eliot could see two people – a man and a woman – curled up together in an armchair.

The woman was the pale vampire who had been at the bar. Drusilla, Faith had called her. She was sitting in Nate's lap, curled up with a contented smile on her face. Her head rested on his chest, and his arms were around her shoulders.

Both of them appeared to be asleep, but Eliot could see the vampire was gently stroking Nate's cheek.

"He doesn't look very alive to me," Eliot said, watching the scene and trying not to be sick. "I want to talk to him."

_"Dru's got that effect on people." _There was sound over the com units and over Hardison's speakers. Eliot made a note of that, keeping his ears peeled for any hint that the two weren't in sync. _Wouldn't put it past him to try and slide by on a recording._

"I want proof of life. Now."

He heard Lindsey sigh, and then speak. _"Drusilla, get him up."_

Eliot got his first proper look at the woman. She sat up straighter, looking directly at Lindsey and frowning petulantly. _"You do not give me orders. I am the lady of this house, and you have already been so impolite to me." _Her hand clenched slightly from where it rested on Nate's face. Eliot thought he saw his boss stir slightly, but it was nothing he could be definite about.

_"The man I'm speaking with is worse than I am," _said Lindsey, and Eliot almost smiled at how much effort it was obviously taking for Lindsey to keep his cool. _"The Slayer wants to take him away from you, Dru."_

The vampire bared her teeth and made a sound that could only be called a growl. _"No! He is my daddy now. The Slayer does not deserve him! She is a bad girl."_

Eliot forced himself not to glance at Faith.

_"I know, Dru."_ Lindsey clearly did not want to be having this conversation. He almost sounded nervous, but he was trying his best to keep his voice pleasant.

_I know that tone,_ Eliot thought. Lindsey had used it on him many times when they were younger, when Eliot had had one of his violent fits against the world. _He's in over his head with this one._ It wasn't a comforting thought.

_"If…your Daddy could just say something – tell the Slayer that he's happy with you..."_

Drusilla glanced back at Nate, and Eliot thought he saw her smile. _"Everyone can see how happy he is. I am his family now, and I will be a proper daughter for him. Isn't that right, daddy?"_

Eliot heard Lindsey grumble something under his breath. His view changed then, as the monitor was turned – putting Nate and Drusilla out of sight and bringing Lindsey into view again. _"Unless you really want me poking the psychotic vampire some more, I think that's the best you're going to get." _ His expression darkened._ "I didn't want to do it this way," _he said._ "Drusilla is…unpredictable. I can probably guarantee Ford's safety for another couple of hours, but beyond that I make no promises Eliot."_

Eliot glanced at the clock in the bottom corner of the monitor. _Too many hours until dawn. _ "A couple hours puts us on your turf in full darkness, Lindsey. I've got no guarantees you won't take the others out the second Faith and I are inside.

His twin looked seriously annoyed now. _"Two hours, and I'll put Damian Moreau back on the table. We'll deliver him to you, no strings attached."_ Lindsey smiled suddenly. _"Play nice and I might even let Faith have a crack at Drusilla before we're done."_

_He's not going to budge._ Eliot knew his brother well enough to know that if Lindsey could have given him the time concession he would have. "All right. Two hours in exchange for Nate's safe return and Damian Moreau to do with as we decide." Two hours. Just enough time for him and Faith to pack a bag and say their good-byes.

The monitor went dark. The line went dead. The team was alone in what had once been Nate's apartment, and time was running out.


End file.
